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THE 



BATTLE GROUNDS OF AMERICA, 



ILLUSTRATED BY 

STORIES Of THE REVOLUTION; 



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AUBURN, N. Y. 

J. C. DERBY & Co, 

1846. 



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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 
E. FERKETT & CO., 

'. in f?re oftkp *>£}.ht; cleyk of the I>i^' ricr Court of the United 
.* \ .' States $1^0$ ij>r. t,lte EastprC' t'isf.rict of Pennsylvania. 



PREFACE. 



The object of the compiler of the following volume has been 
to present his young countrymen with a connected view of 
the War of Independence, by a series of narratives of its 
most brilliant and striking events, interspersed with such per- 
sonal traits and anecdotes as might serve to illustrate the 
peculiar spirit and character of that period. It is by no means 
unimportant to preserve, in every practicable way, the memory 
of so remarkable and interesting an epoch. It was one in 
which patriotism and self-sacrifice were conspicuous traits in 
the character of the people and their leaders. It was a period 
when all felt that they were laying the foundations of a great 
republic, and that an object so glorious was worthy the liberal 
expenditure of blood and treasure. In sacrificing their own 
ease and personal prosperity to the welfare of those who should 
come after them, our ancestors not only preferred a lasting 
claim to our gratitude, but left us an example which is worthy 
of imitation. The youthful American should remember, that 
although wars have ceased in our land, the duties of patriot- 
ism are still imperative; and that every citizen may promote 
the welfare of his country, by studying its history, and the true 
character of its institutions; and by endeavouring to preserve 
the purity of our government — elevating to public office those 
only who respect the virtues of our ancestors and imitate their 
bright example. 



CONTENTS. 



Causes of the Revolution 
Passage of the Stamp Act 
Bql 1 Language of Patrick Henry- 
Repeal of the Stamp Act - 
The Tea Tax 
Affair of the Sloop Liberty 
Boston Massacre - 
The Tea Riot - 
Battle of Lexington 
Fight at Concord Bridge - 
Battle of Bunker's Hill 
John Hancock - 
Brother Jonathan 
Death of Montgomery 
Attack on Sullivan's Island 
The First Prayer in Congress 
Declaration of Independence 
Dr. Franklin in Congress 
Patriotic School Boys • 
Battle of Long Island 
Capture of Ethan Allen 
Battle of Trenton 
Battle of Brandywine • 
La Fayette 

Rattle of Germantown • 
General Wayne's War Horse 
Battle of Bennington 
Rev. Thomas Allen - 



Battle of Saratoga 

Putnam's Feat .... 

Battle of Monmouth Court House 

General Lee .... 

Rhode Island 

Anecdote of a Negro Boy - 

Siege of Savannah 

Storming of Stony Point - 

De Kalli's account of his Family 

Battle of Camden 

Death of Baron De Kalb 

General Gates .... 

General Marion's Address to h 

Soldiers .... 
Battle of King's Mountain 
Lieutenant Reese Bowen 
Arnold's Treachery • 

Death of Major Andre - 
Baron Steuben .... 
Arnold the Traitor 
Battle of the Cowpens 
General Morgan - 
Colonel William Washington - 
Battle of Guilford Court House 
General Greene ... 

Battle of Eutaw - 
Battle of Yorktown ... 



Page 
135 
13S 
140 
147 
H9 
153 
154 
162 
16S 
172 
177 
182 



ISmMlfsljments. 

'. Frontispiece— Siege of Eoston. 

', Ornamental Title Page— Putnam's Feat. Paj»e 

Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbour ..... 32 

v. ''Affair at Lexington ........ 37 

» Provincials harassing the British on their Retreat from Concord 44 

.- Battle of Bunker's Hill 54 

y Carpenter's Hall 80 

Retreat of the Americans from Long Island • • • • -94 

• Battle of Trenton • 104 

/Burgoyne's Encampment on the Hudson • • • • • 134 

"'Burgoyne's Retreat on the Hudson River 133 

' Storming of Stony Point • ...... 162 

Capture of Andre ........ 200 

Battle of the Cowpens ........ 205 



STORIES 

OF THE 

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 

Until the close of the French war, in the year 
1763, the regulations of the British ministers, 
for the government of the colonies, appear to 
have had no other object than the common good 
of the whole empire. When, however, the 
French power in America had been overthrown, 
and by the cession of the Floridas by Spain, 
George III. had obtained possession of the whole 
continent, his ministerial advisers resolved to 
change the measures under which the American 
settlers had so long flourished. When children, 
the colonies had been indulgently treated, and 
now, when grown to manhood, they expected 
the parental authority to be relaxed, the mother 
country rose in her demands, and multiplied 
the restraints which she had formerly imposed. 

1* (5) 



6 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

When in 1764, the parliament of the British 
empire commenced restricting the commerce of 
her American colonies and subjecting them to 
taxation, they naturally became impatient of 
subordination, and by resisting every innova- 
tion, they gradually prepared themselves for an 
increase of their independence. A great ma- 
jority of the people, however, was disposed to 
submit to the British restrictions upon their 
manufactures and commerce, acknowledging 
that the exercise of these powers was incident 
to the sovereignty of the mother country, and 
that the restrictions were imposed for the com- 
mon good of the whole empire. But the novel 
doctrine of internal taxation, was universally 
opposed, as contrary to every right granted to 
them, as well by nature as by their charters 
and constitutions. For a century and a half, 
they, had taxed themselves, and in their own 
way, and they had largely contributed to the 
support of the French war, and now, when they 
were beginning to recover from the expenses 
they had incurred, they thought it especially 
unjust on the part of parliament to attempt to 
tax them. " It would be absurd," says Gra- 
ham, " to suppose that Great Britain, even by 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. / 

the mildest and most liberal system of policy, 
could have retained the American provinces in 
perpetual submission to her authority. Their 
great and rapid advancement in population, and 
the vast distance by which they were detached 
from the parent state, combined with other 
causes to generate ideas of freedom and inde- 
pendence in the minds of their inhabitants, and 
portended an inevitable, though, in point of time, 
an indefinite limit to the connection between 
the two countries. A separate and independent 
political existence was the natural and reasona- 
ble consummation to which the progress of 
society in America was tending : and Great 
Britain, eventually, had but to choose between 
a graceful compliance, or a fruitless struggle 
with this irresistible development. By wisdom 
and prudence, she might, indeed, have retarded 
the catastrophe, and even rendered its actual 
occurrence instrumental to the confirmation of 
friendship and good will between the two coun- 
tries. Her conduct and policy, however, were 
perversely calculated to provoke and hasten its 
arrival, and to blend its immortal remembrance 
with impressions of resentment, enmity and 
strife." 



STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



PASSAGE OF THE STAMP ACT. 

On the first reading of this bill, it was op- 
posed as an unjust and oppressive measure by 
Colonel Barre, an officer who had served with 
the British army in America, and who was 
highly distinguished in the Hcuse of Commons 
as an eloquent and zealous advocate of the 
principles of liberty. Charles Tovvnsend, an- 
other member of the house, who afterwards 
succeeded to the office of Grenville, supported 
the bill with much warmth, and after severely 
reprobating the animadversions which it had 
received from Colonel Barre, concluded his 
speech by indignantly demanding: — "And 
now, will these Americans, children planted by 
our care, nourished by our indulgence until 
they are grown up to a high degree of strength 
and opulence, and protected by our arms — will 
they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve 
us from the heavy weight of that burden which 
we lie under ?" Barre, in an explanatory speech, 
after repelling the censure that had been per- 
sonally addressed to himself, thus forcibly re- 



PASSAGE OF THE STAMP ACT. V 

plied to the concluding expressions of Town- 
send : — " They planted by your care I No, 
your oppressions planted them in America. 
They fled from your tyranny to a then uncul- 
tivated and inhospitable country, where they 
exposed themselves to almost all the hardships 
to which human nature is liable ; and among 
others, to the cruelties of a savage foe, the most 
subtle, and I will take upon me to say, the most 
formidable of any people upon the face of God's 
earth : and yet, actuated by principles of true 
English liberty, they preferred all hardships to 
those which they had endured in their own 
country, from the hands of men who should 
have been their friends. They nourished by 
your indulgence / They grew by your ne- 
glect of them. As soon as you began to care 
about them, that care was exercised in sending 
persons to rule them in one department and an- 
other, who were, perhaps, the deputies of depu- 
ties to some members of this house, sent to spy 
out their liberties, to misrepresent their actions, 
and to prey upon them — men, whose behaviour 
on many occasions has caused the blood of 
those sons of liberty to recoil within them — 
men, promoted to the highest seats of justice, 



10 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

some of whom, to my knowledge, were glad, 
by going to a foreign country, to escape being 
brought to the bar of a court of justice in their 
own. They protected by yovr arms / They 
have nobly taken up arms in your defence ; 
and have exerted a valour, amidst their constant 
and laborious industry, for the defence of a 
country whose frontier was drenched in blood, 
while its interior parts yielded all their little 
savings to your emolument. And believe me, 
— remember, I this day told you so — that the 
same spirit of freedom which actuated that peo- 
ple at first, will accompany them still : — but 
prudence forbids me to explain myself farther. 
God knows, I do not at this time speak from 
motives of party spirit : what I deliver are the 
genuine sentiments of my heart. However 
superior to me in general knowledge and expe- 
rience, the respectable body of this house may 
be, yet I claim to know more of America than 
most of you ; having seen and been conversant 
with that country. The people, I believe, are 
as truly loyal as any subjects the king has ; 
but a people jealous of their liberties, and who 
will vindicate them, if ever they should be vio- 
lated. But the subject is too delicate — I will 



PASSAGE OF THE STAMP ACT. 11 

say no more." At the second reading of the 
bill a petition was tendered against it, from all 
the merchants of London who traded to Ame- 
rica, and who, anticipating the effect of the 
contemplated measure in that country, were 
struck with alarm for the security of their out- 
standing debts ; but it was rejected in conform- 
ity with a rule of the house, that no petition 
should be admitted against a money bill in its 
progress. General Conway, a member distin- 
guished alike by the liberality of his political 
sentiments and the magnanimous resolution of 
his character, strongly urged the house, on so 
great an occasion, to relax this rule, which, he 
asserted without denial, had not always been 
inflexibly maintained : but the ministers were 
earnestly bent on enforcing it in the present 
instance, in order to justify the application of 
it to the American petitions which had now ar- 
rived at London, and in some of which, it was 
known, that the right of Britain to tax the colo- 
nies was openly denied. The ministers wished 
to avoid a discussion of this delicate point, and 
perhaps imagined that they had gained their 
end and prevented the prerogatives of the pa- 
rent state from being publicly questioned, when 



12 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the various petitions from the American pro- 
vinces were rejected as summarily as the peti- 
tion of the merchants of London. So little 
impression was produced by the efforts of the 
opponents of the Stamp Bill, that after it had 
finally passed the House of Commons, where 
250 members voted for it and only 50 against 
it, it was carried through the House of Lords 
without a moment's obstruction or a syllable 
of opposition. 



BOLD LANGUAGE OF PATRICK HENRY. 

When Patrick Henry, who gave the first 
impulse to the ball of the American revolution, 
introduced his celebrated resolution on the 
Stamp Act in the House of Burgesses, of Vir- 
ginia, May, 1765, while descanting on that 
hateful act, he exclaimed, " Caesar had his Bru- 
tus ; Charles the First had his Cromwell ; and 

George the Third" (" Treason !" cried the 

speaker. " Treason ! Treason !" echoed from 
every part of the house.) It was one of those 
moments which are decisive of character. 



REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 13 

Henry faultered not for an instant ; but rising 
to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the speaker 
an eye flashing with fire, he continued, " and 
George the Third may 'profit by their exam- 
ple. If there be treason in this, make the 
most of it." 



REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 

" You have no right," said Pitt, in the House 
of Commons, " to tax America. Nevertheless, 
I assert the authority of this kingdom to be 
sovereign and supreme, in every circumstance 
of government and legislation whatsoever. 
Taxation is no part of the governing or legis- 
lative power : the taxes are a voluntary gift 
and grant of the commons alone. The con- 
currence of the peers and of the crown is ne- 
cessary only as a form of law. This house 
represents the commons of Great Britain. Here 
we give and grant what is our own : but it is 
unjust and absurd to suppose that we can give 
and grant the property of the commons of Ame- 
rica. This constitutional right has ever been 
2 



14 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

exercised by the commons of America them- 
selves, represented in their own provincial as- 
semblies : and without it, they would have been 
slaves. At the same time, let the sovereign 
authority of legislative and commercial control, 
always possessed by this country, be asserted 
in as strong terms as can be devised ; and if it 
were denied, I would not suffer even a nail for 
a horse-shoe to be manufactured in America. 
But the Americans do not deny it. We may, 
and they are willing that we shall bind their 
trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise 
every power, except that of taking money out 
of their pockets without their consent. There 
I draw the line; there are the bounds Qvos 
ultra, citraque, nequit consistere rectum.'''' — 
" My position is this," said Lord Camden ; 
" and I repeat it, and will maintain it to my last 
hour : taxation and representation are insepa- 
rable. This position is founded on the laws of 
nature. It is more : it is itself an eternal law 
of nature. For, whatever is a man's own is 
absolutely his own. No one has a right to 
take it from him without his consent. Who- 
9ver attempts to do it, commits an injury : who- 
ever does it, commits a robbery." After de- 



REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 15 

bates more violent and protracted than had oc- 
curred since the British Revolution, the repeal 
bill passed the House of Commons at three 
o'clock of the morning by the votes of 275 
against 167 members. Amidst general accla- 
mations, it was soon after carried to the House 
of Lords by Conway, the mover, accompanied 
by more than 200 members, — a larger con- 
course than was ever remembered to have ac- 
companied the progress of any former bill. In 
the upper house, the feebler arguments of its 
opponents were reinforced by superior influ- 
ence ; and Lords Strange and Bute scrupled 
not to declare that the private sentiments of the 
kino; were adverse to it. Nothing could be 
more unconstitutional than the promulgation 
of such intelligence, whether it were true or 
false. The ministers ascertained by inquiry 
that it was true : but were neither deterred from 
prosecuting the measure which they had car 
ried so far, nor prevented from conducting it to 
a successful issue. The bill, notwithstanding 
much opposition, and two protests, was carried 
through the House of Lords ; and finally re- 
ceiving the royal assent, was passed into a law. 
The bare prospect of this measure had been 



16 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

hailed with the liveliest joy in London ; where 
the church bells were rung and the houses illu- 
minated as soon as the progress of the bill 
through the House of Commons was made 
known. Similar demonstrations of public joy 
and gratulation attended the final completion 
of the measure. 

In America, where the people had been 
taught to regard the repeal as a hopeless pro- 
position, the intelligence of its political con- 
summation and actual prevalence produced a 
transport of mingled surprise, exultation, and 
gratitude. In the provincial assemblies, it was 
impossible that even those members who sym- 
pathized not in the general flow of enthusiastic 
sentiment, could decently refuse to unite in the 
expressions of it suggested by their colleagues : 
and, among the people at large, many who had 
more or less deliberately contemplated a peril- 
ous and sanguinary conflict, were unfeignedly 
rejoiced to behold this terrible extremity avert- 
ed or retarded. Amidst the first emotions of 
surprise and pleasure, the alarming terms of 
the Declaratory Act were little heeded. The 
assembly of Massachusetts presented an ad- 
dress of grateful thanks to the king, in which 



REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 17 

they declared their apprehension that the Ame- 
ricans had been greatly misrepresented to his 
majesty, and injuriously reproached with aver- 
sion to the constitutional supremacy of the 
British legislature. Thanks were also voted 
to the royal ministers, and to Lord Camden, 
Pitt, Colonel Barre, and other individuals who 
had promoted the repeal or defended the Ame- 
ricans. Similar demonstrations occurred in 
New Hampshire. The assembly of Virginia 
voted that a statue of the king should be erect- 
ed in this province : and in a general meeting 
of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, it was unani- 
mously resolved " that to demonstrate our zeal 
to Great Britain, and our gratitude for the re- 
peal of the Stamp Act, each of us will, on the 
4th of June next, being the birth-day of our 
gracious sovereign, dress ourselves in a new 
suit of the manufactures of England, and give 
what homespun clothes we have to the poor " 



18 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



THE TEA TAX. 

A bill was introduced into the House of 
Commons by Townsend, imposing duties on all 
glass, lead, painters' colours, tea, and paper, 
imported into the American provinces. In the 
preamble of the bill, it was declared, that " it 
is expedient that a revenue should be raised in 
his majesty's dominions in America, for mak- 
ing a more certain and adequate provision for 
defraying the charge of the administration of 
justice and the support of civil government, in 
those provinces where it shall be found neces- 
sary ; and towards farther defraying the ex- 
penses of defending, protecting, and securing 
the said dominions." By one clause in the bill, 
the king was empowered to establish, by sign 
manual, a general civil list, in every province 
of North America, to an indefinite extent, with 
salaries, pensions, and appointments to an un- 
limited amount : and it was provided, that after 
liquidation of the contents of the civil list, the 
residue of the revenue to be derived from Ame- 
rica should abide the disposal of the British 



THE TEA TAX. 19 

parliament. This bill met with hardly the sha- 
dow of opposition in parliament; though it 
excited as much concern and anxiety, and expe- 
rienced an opposition as determined, though not 
as violent, as the Stamp Act had done. In- 
stead of the aversion with which the colonists 
regarded the recent act being diminished by the 
consideration that the duties which it imposed 
were strictly speaking external taxes, the im- 
position of these duties and the sanction which 
they received from an extension of the princi- 
ple of external taxation, tended to destroy all 
the respect or acquiescence which this preroga- 
tive had ever obtained in America. That there 
was no solid distinction between internal and 
external taxation, had been maintained by Otis, 
in America, and by Grenville, in the British 
parliament : it was a deduction that manifestly 
followed from the reasonings of Pitt and Cam- 
den ; and was a tenet embraced and avowed 
by many other politicians, both among the 
friends of America and the partizans of 
Britain. 

Some of the leading politicians in Massachu- 
setts having suggested that the last of the de- 
fensive measures employed against the Stamp 



20 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Act, the non-importation agreement, had been 
more efficient than all the others and was pecu- 
liarly applicable to the present emergency, the 
idea was eagerly embraced ; and at a general 
meeting of the inhabitants of Boston, resolu- 
tions were passed to discontinue the importa- 
tion of commodities from England, and espe- 
cially of all those on which the new duties had 
been laid, until not only the act imposing them, 
but all the late revenue acts, likewise, should 
be repealed ; — and, as a subsidiary measure, to 
promote by every possible effort the growth of 
domestic manufactures and the practice of in- 
dustry and economy. These resolutions were 
propagated throughout America, and from the 
first zealously executed in New England, where 
a considerable change of manners now began 
to appear. Of late years a taste for gay and 
expensive pleasures had been gaining ground 
among the descendants of the puritans, espe- 
cially in Massachusetts ; and several attempts 
had been made, though ineffectually, to procure 
a repeal of the law which prohibited theatrical 
entertainments. But now a general simplicity 
of dress and living was diligently cultivated ; 
and even the taste for expensive funerals, which 



AFFAIR OF THE SLOOP LIBERTY. 21 

the law had vainly attempted to restrain, was 
sacrificed to the practice of habits which were 
justly accounted the firmest as well as the most 
respectable bulwarks of American freedom. 
By degrees the example of this people obtained 
imitation as well as applause. The political 
clubs, which began to resume their functions 
and activity, employed every art of persuasion 
and even intimidation to induce their country- 
men to embrace the non-importation agreement, 
which by their aid and other concurring cir- 
cumstances obtained a general, though not till 
two years after the present period, a universal 
prevalence in America. 



AFFAIR OF THE SLOOP LIBERTY. 

Meanwhile, additional cause of offence and 
quarrel arose in America from the operation 
of the Act by which a board of customs had 
been established at Boston. Paxton, one of the 
commissioners, had long been an object of gen- 
eral detestation to the people of Massachusetts, 



22 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

on account of the zeal with which he seconded 
all the pretensions of British prerogative ; and 
only his absence from the province during the 
Stamp Act riots, had saved him from a share 
of the popular vengeance on that occasion. He 
and his colleagues now enforced the trade laws 
with a rigour hitherto unknown, and which 
contributed not a little to increase the prevail- 
ing inquietude and irritation. At New York 
there was printed and circulated, a manifesto 
or proclamation assuring the inhabitants that 
commissioners of customs would soon be estab- 
lished there as well as at Boston, and summon- 
ing every friend of liberty to hold himself in 
readiness to receive them with the same treat- 
ment which had been bestowed upon " a set of 
miscreants under the name of stamp-masters, 
in the year 1765." All the efforts of the go- 
vernor to discover the authors of this inflam- 
matory proclamation proved ineffectual. In 
this province the spirit of liberty was no way 
depressed, nor was even the conduct of public 
business obstructed by the act of parliament 
restraining the assembly from the exercise of 
legislative functions. With a plausible show 
of obedience to the letter of the statute, the as- 



AFFAIR OF THE SLOOP LIBERTY. 23 

sembly forbore to enact formal laics : but when- 
ever money was needed for public purposes, 
they passed resolutions to which the people lent 
a prompt and cheerful obedience : and thus the 
act, though sufficient to exasperate, proved 
quite impotent to punish. It had been the prac- 
tice in every quarter of British America for the 
officers of the customs to allow merchants and 
ship-masters to enter in the custom-house books 
only a part of their imported cargoes, and to 
land the remainder duty free. To this practice, 
which had become so inveterate that the colo- 
nists regarded the advantage accruing from it 
as a right rather than an indulgence, the com- 
missioners now resolved to put a stop. A sloop 
called the Liberty, belonging to Hancock, hav- 
ing arrived at Boston laden with wine from Ma- 
deira, the captain, as usual, proposed to the tide- 
waiter who came to inspect the cargo, that part 
of it should be landed duty free ; and meeting 
a refusal, laid violent hands upon him, and with 
the assistance of the crew locked him up in the 
cabin till the whole cargo was carried ashore. 
The next morning he entered a few pipes of 
the wine at the custom-house, as having formed 
all his lading: but the commissioners of the 



24 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

customs, declaring that the entry was false, 
caused the sloop to be arrested. To secure the 
capture, it was proposed that the vessel should 
be removed from the wharf and towed under 
the guns of the Romney man-of-war ; and by 
the assistance of the Romney's boats this was 
accordingly performed in spite of the opposition 
of a great assemblage of the people, who, find- 
ing their remonstrances disregarded, assaulted 
the custom-house officers with a violence that 
had nearly proved fatal to their lives. On the 
following day, the populace again assembling 
before the houses of the collector, comptroller, 
and inspector-general of the customs, broke 
their windows, and then seizing the collector's 
boat, dragged it through the town, and burned 
it on the common. Their violence, whether 
satiated or not, was checked at this point by 
the flight of the commissioners and other offi- 
cers of the customs, who, learning that renew- 
ed assemblages of the people were expected, 
and believing, or affecting to believe that far- 
ther outrages were meditated against them- 
selves, hastily left the place, and took refuge 
first on board the ship of war, and afterwards 
in Castle William. The city, meanwhile, re- 



AFFAIR OF THE SLOOP LIBERTY. 25 

sounded with complaints of the insult thai had 
been offered to the inhabitants in removing the 
sloop from the wharf, and thus proclaiming ap- 
prehensions of a rescue. These complaints 
were sanctioned by the assembly, who declared 
that the criminality of the rioters was extenu- 
ated by the irritating and unprecedented cir- 
cumstances of the seizure ; but added, never- 
theless, that as the rioters deserved severe pun- 
ishment, they must beseech the governor to 
direct that they should be prosecuted, and pro- 
claim a reward for their discovery. The riot- 
ers, however, had nothing to fear : nor was any 
one of them ever molested. A suit for penal- 
ties was afterwards instituted against Hancock 
in the court of admiralty : but the officers of 
the crown finding it beyond their power to ad- 
duce sufficient evidence of facts which though 
every body knew, nobody would attest, aban- 
doned the prosecution and restored the vessel. 



26 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



BOSTON MASSACRE. 

The British senate had been assured by 
Franklin that a military force despatched to 
America, though it would not find, would easily 
create a rebellion ; but more credit had been 
given by the present ministers to the represen- 
tations of Bernard, Hutchinson, Oliver, Paxton, 
and other partisans of prerogative, that an 
impending rebellion could be averted only by 
the exhibition of military power. Ever since 
the arrival of the troops at Boston, the inhabit- 
ants of this city had regarded the presence of 
these instruments of despotic authority with an 
increasing sense of indignity ; and reciprocal 
insults and injuries paved the way for a tragi- 
cal event which made a deep and lasting im- 
pression of resentment in America. An affray 
which commenced between an inhabitant of the 
town and a private soldier, having been gradu- 
ally extended by the participation of the fellow- 
citizens of the one and the comrades of the 
other, terminated to the advantage of the sol- 
diers, and inflamed the people with a passionate 



BOSTON MASSACRE. 27 

desire of vengeance, which, it has been justly 
or unjustly surmised, was fomented by some 
persons of consideration, who hoped that the 
removal of the troops would be promoted by a 
conflict between them and the towns-people. 
A corresponding animosity was cherished by 
the soldiers, some of whom had been severely 
hurt in the affray. They began to carry clubs 
in their hands when they walked in the streets, 
gave other symptoms of willingness to renew 
the conflict, and evinced the most insulting con- 
tempt for a people to whom their presence was 
already sufficiently offensive. After the lapse 
of three days from the first affray, and afler 
various symptoms had betrayed that some dan- 
gerous design was harboured on both sides, a 
party of soldiers while under arms in the even- 
ing were assaulted by a body of the people, 
who pressed upon them, struck some of them, 
loaded them with insults, terming them bloody- 
backs, (in allusion to the practice of flogging 
in the British army) and cowards, and taunt- 
ingly dared them to fire. The conduct of the 
soldiers was far from blameless. They had 
previously by studied insult provoked the rage 
of the people, and they now exasperated by 



28 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

retorting the verbal outrages, which they pos- 
sessed the most fatal means of avenging. One 
soldier, at length, on receiving a blow, fired at 
his assailant ; and a single discharge from six 
others succeeded. Three of the citizens were 
killed, and five dangerously wounded. The 
town became instantly a scene of the most 
violent commotion ; the drums beat to arms ; 
thousands of the inhabitants flocked together, 
and beheld the bloody spectacle of their slaugh- 
tered fellow-citizens with a rage that would 
have lengthened and aggravated the calamities 
of the night, if Hutchinson, the deputy-governor, 
and the other civil authorities, had not promptly 
interfered, and, arresting the soldiers who had 
fired, together with the officer under whose 
immediate command they had been, and loudly 
blaming them for firing without the order of a 
magistrate, held forth to the people the hope of 
more deliberate vengeance, and prevailed with 
them to disperse. The next morning Hutchin- 
son convoked the council, which was engaged 
in discussing the unhappy event, when a mes- 
sage was received from a general assemblage 
of the citizens, declaring it to be their unani- 
mous opinion, that nothing could rationally be 



BOSTON MASSACRE. 29 

expected to restore the peace of the town and 
orevent bloodshed and carnage, but the imme- 
diate removal of the troops. After some hesi- 
tation, Hutchinson and the commander of the 
forces, who each desired to throw the respon- 
sibility of this measure upon the other, per- 
ceiving that it was inevitable, agreed to it ; and 
the commotion subsided. One of the wounded 
men died ; and the four bodies of the slain were 
conducted to the grave with every ceremonial 
expressive of public honour and respect by an 
immense concourse of people, followed by a 
long train of carriages belonging to the princi- 
pal inhabitants of the town. Captain Preston, 
who had commanded the party of troops en- 
gaged in the fatal affair, and all the soldiers 
who had fired, were committed to jail, and 
arraigned on an indictment of murder. Their 
trial was awaited with earnest expectation, and 
for some time with passionate hope or stern 
conviction in the public mind that it would ter- 
minate fatally for the accused. Considering 
the mighty cloud of passion, prejudice, and 
exaggeration, through which their conduct was 
viewed, such an event would have merited more 
3* 



30 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

regret than reprobation. Captain Preston, 
though entirely innocent* was exposed to pecu- 
liar danger from the generosity with which in 
vindicating his men when first reproached by 
the civil authorities, he forgot to exculpate him- 
self from the charge implied in their questions, 
of having authorized and ordered the firing. 
But the defence of the prisoners was undertaken 
by two of the most eminent lawyers and deter- 
mined patriots in Massachusetts, — Josiah Quin- 
cy, whom we have already noticed, and John 
Adams, a kinsman and intimate friend of Sam- 
uel Adams, and who afterwards held the high 
office, — the highest that a champion and patron 
of human liberty and happiness has ever filled, 
— of president of the United Slates of America. 
These men were not less eager to guard the 
justice and honour of their country from re- 
proach, than to defend its liberty from invasion ; 
and exerted themselves in defence of their cli- 
ents with a manly eloquence and reasoning 
worthy of, and worthily appreciated by the 
integrity, justice, and good sense of the jury. 
Preston was acquitted ; as were all the soldiers 
except two, who were found guilty of man- 



BOSTON MASSACRE. 31 

slaughter. The event was highly honourable 
to Massachusetts. Some British politicians, 
indeed, are said to have viewed it merely as an 
act of timidity, or a mechanical adherence to 
legal rules. But, (as an ingenious American 
writer has justly observed) in this forbearance 
of the people, on an occasion where truth and 
reason, combating violent passion, pronounced 
the bias of their feelings unjust and wrong, 
there was truly exhibited a force and firmness 
of character which promised to render them 
unyielding and invincible when supported by a 
sense of justice and right. Though the issue 
of the trial was generally approved in Massa- 
chusetts, the anniversary of the massacre, as it 
was termed, was observed with much solemni- 
ty ; and the ablest of the provincial orators 
were successively employed to deliver annual 
harangues calculated to preserve the irritating 
remembrance fresh in the popular mind. 



STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



THE TEA RIOT. 

Though the duties on glass, paper, and paint- 
ers' colours had been repealed, the British go« 
vernment rashly determined to enforce the Tea 
duty, — of which the most considerable effect 
hitherto had been vast importations of smug- 
gled tea into America by the French, the Dutch, 
the Danes, and the Swedes, — and attempted to 
compass by policy what constraint and author, 
ity had proved insufficient to accomplish. The 
measures of the Americans had already occa- 
sioned such diminution of exports from Britain, 
that the warehouses of the English East India 
Company contained above seventeen millions 
of pounds of tea, for which it was difficult to 
procure a market. The unwillingness of tho 
Company to lose their commercial profits, and 
of the ministry to forego the expected revenue 
from the sale of tea in America, induced a com- 
promise for their mutual advantage. A high 
duty had been imposed hitherto on the exporta- 
tion of tea from England : but the East India 
Company were now authorized by act of par- 



i » 







PASSAGE OF THE STAMP ACT. 33 

liament to export their tea free of duty to all 
places whatever. By this regulation it was 
expected that tea, though loaded with an excep- 
tionable duty on its importation into America, 
would yet readily obtain purchasers among the 
Americans ; as the vendors, relieved of the 
British export duty, could afford to sell it to 
them even cheaper than before it had been made 
a source of American revenue. The crisis now 
drew near when the Americans were to decide 
whether they would submit to be taxed by the 
British parliament, or practically support their 
own principles, and brave the most perilous 
consequences of their inflexibility. One com- 
mon sentiment seemed to be awakened through- 
out the whole continent by the tidings of the 
ministerial plan, which was universally repro- 
bated as an attempt at once injurious and insult- 
ing, to bribe the Americans to surrender their 
rights and bend their own necks to the yoke of 
arbitrary power. A violent ferment was every 
where excited : the corresponding committees 
and political clubs exerted their utmost activity 
to rouse and unite the people ; and it was gene- 
rally declared that as every citizen owed to his 
country the duty at least of refraining from 



34 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

being accessory to her subjugation, every man 
who should countenance the present dangerous 
measure of the British government should be 
deemed an enemy of America. Some of the 
popular leaders expressed doubts of the pru- 
dence of actual resistance to a measure of so 
little intrinsic importance ; and preferably urged 
that the people should be restrained from vio- 
lence till the occurrence of an opportunity 
of rousing and directing their force against 
some invasion of American liberty more mo- 
mentous and alarming. But to this suggestion 
it was reasonably and successfully replied, that 
such an opportunity might never occur again ; 
that Britain, warned by the past, would avoid 
sudden and startling innovations ; that her 
policy would be, — by multiplying posts and 
offices, and either bestowing them on her parti- 
sans, or employing them to corrupt her antago- 
nists, — to increase her force proportionally 
faster than the force of the patriotic party 
would increase by the growth of the American 
population ; that she had latterly sent out as 
her functionaries a number of young men who, 
marrying into provincial families of influence 
and consideration, had weakened the force of 



THE TEA. RIOT. 35 

American opposition ; and that now was the 
time to profit by the general irritation of the 
people and the blunders which Britain had com- 
mitted, in order to precipitate a collision which 
sooner or later was inevitable, and to prevent 
a seeming accommodation of the quarrel which 
would only expose the interests of America to 
additional disadvantage. The East India Com- 
pany, confident of finding a market for their 
tea, reduced as it now was in price, freighted 
several ships to America with this commodity, 
and appointed consignees to receive and dispose 
of it. Some cargoes were sent to New York ; 
some to Philadelphia ; some to Charleston, the 
metropolis of South Carolina; and some to 
Boston. The inhabitants of New York and 
Philadelphia prevailed with the consignees to 
disclaim their functions, and forced the ships to 
return with their cargoes to London. The 
inhabitants of Charleston unladed the tea, and 
deposited it in public cellars where it was guard- 
ed from use and finally perished. At Boston 
the consignees, who were the near kinsmen of 
Governor Hutchinson, at first refused to resign 
their appointments ; and the vessels containing 
the tea lay long in the harbour watched by a 



36 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

strong guard of the citizens who, from a nume- 
rous town-meeting, despatched the most peremp- 
tory commands to the ship-masters not to land 
their obnoxious cargoes. After much delay, 
the consignees, alarmed by the increasing vio- 
lence of the people, solicited leave from the 
governor to resign, but were encouraged by 
him to persist. They proposed then to the peo- 
ple that the tea should be landed, and preserved 
in some public store or magazine ; but this com- 
promise was indignantly rejected. At length 
the popular rage could be contained no longer. 
From the symptoms of its dangerous fervour, 
the consignees fled in dismay to the castle ; 
while an assemblage of men dressed and paint- 
ed like. Mohawk Indians, boarded the vessels 
and threw the tea into the ocean. The conduct 
of the East India Company in assisting the 
policy of the British government, strongly ex- 
cited the displeasure of the Americans. This 
sentiment was manifested in a singular manner 
in Rhode Island, where a confederacy of re- 
spectable women united in resolutions to abstain 
from and discourage the use of tea procured 
from the East India Company. Learning that 
an inhabitant of the province had imported 



BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. O? 

some of the obnoxious commodity, they request- 
ed him to return it; and he instantly complied. 
Thus again was another notable scheme of the 
British Government rendered completely abor- 
tive. 



BATTLE OF LEXIXGTOX. 

A considerable quantity of military stores 
having been deposited at Concord, 18 miles 
from Boston, General Gage, who commanded 
the British troops in that city, determined to 
destroy them. In pursuance of his design, he, 
on the evening of the 18th of April, 1775, 
despatched a party of 800 grenadiers and light 
infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, who 
crossed Charles river from the foot of Boston 
common to Phips's farm in Cambridge, about 
eleven o'clock at night, and commenced a quick 
but silent march for Concord. Though they 
attempted to preserve secresy, yet the friends 
of liberty were too vigilant not to notice their 
departure, and many messengers were imme- 
diately sent to alarm the country. Of these, 
4 



0? STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Colonel Revere, Mr. Dawes, and three or four 
others of the most active, fell into the hands 
of a party of British officers, who kept them 
as prisoners for a time, but, becoming alarmed 
at the firing of a party of militia at drill near 
Lexington meeting-house, they took the horses 
from their captives and rode off. The follow- 
ing account of the battle is given by one of the 
most celebrated orators of New England. 

" The Committee of Safety had set the pre- 
ceding day at West Cambridge ; and three of 
its respected members, Gerry, Lee, and Orne, 
had retired to sleep, in the public house, where 
the session of the committee was held. So diffi- 
cult was it, notwithstanding all that had passed, 
to realize that a state of things could exist, be- 
tween England and America, in which Ameri- 
can citizens should be liable to be torn from 
their beds by an armed force at midnight, that 
the members of the Committee of Safety, 
though forewarned of the approach of the Bri- 
tish troops, did not even think it necessary to 
retire from their lodgings. On the contrary, 
they rose from their beds and went to their 
windows to gaze on the unwonted sight, the 
midnight march of armies through the peace- 



BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. ol) 

ful hamlets cf New England. Half the column 
had already passed, when a flank guard was 
promptly detached to search the public house, 
no doubt in the design of arresting the mem- 
bers of the Committee of Safety, who might 
be there. It was only at this last critical mo- 
ment, that Mr. Gerry and his friends bethought 
themselves of flight, and without time even to 
clothe themselves, escaped naked into the fields. 
" By this time Colonel Smith, who command- 
ed the expedition, appears to have been alarmed 
at the indications of a general rising through- 
out the country. The light infantry companies 
were now detached and placed under the com- 
mand of Major Pitcairne, for the purpose of 
hastening forward, to secure the bridges at 
Concord ; and thus cut off the communication 
between this place and the towns north and 
west of it. Before these companies could reach 
Lexington, the officers already mentioned, who 
had arrested Colonel Revere, joined their ad- 
vancing countrymen, and reported that five 
hundred men were drawn up in Lexington, to 
resist the king's troops. On receiving this ex- 
aggerated account, the British light infantry 
was halted, to give time for the grenadiers to 



40 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

come up, that the whole together might move 
forward to the work of death. 

The company assembled on Lexington 
Green, which the British officers, in their re- 
oort, had swelled to five hundred, consisted of 
sixty or seventy of the militia of the place. 
Information had been received about nightfall, 
both by private means and by communications 
from the Committee of Safety, that a strong 
party of officers .had been seen on the road, 
directing their course toward Lexington. In 
consequence of this intelligence, a body of 
about thirty of the militia, well armed, assem- 
bled early m the evening ; a guard of eight 
men under Colonel William Munroe, then a 
sergeant in the company, was stationed at the 
hoube of the Rev. Mr. Clark ; and three men 
were sent off to give the alarm at Concord. 
These three messengers were however stopped 
on their way, as has been mentioned, by the 
British officers, who had already passed on- 
ward. One of their number, Elijah Sanderson, 
has lately died at Salem at an advanced age. 
A little after midnight, Messrs. Revere and 
Dawes arrived with the certain information that 
a very large body of the royal troops was in 



BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 41 

motion. The alarm was now generally given 
to the inhabitants of Lexington, messengers 
were sent down the road to ascertain the move- 
ments of the troops, and the militia company 
under Captain John Parker appeared on the 
green to the number of one hundred and thirty. 
The roll was duly called at this perilous mid- 
night muster, and some answered to their names 
for the last time on earth. The company was 
now ordered to load with powder and ball, and 
awaited in anxious expectation the return of those 
who had been sent to reconnoitre the enemy. 
One of them, in consequence of some misinfor- 
mation, returned and reported that there was no 
appearance of troops on the road from Boston. 
Under this harassing uncertainty and contra- 
diction, the militia were dismissed, to await the 
return of the other expresses, and with orders 
to be in readiness at the beat of the drum. One 
of these messengers was made prisoner by the 
British, whose march was so cautious, that they 
remained undiscovered till within a mile and a 
half of Lexington meeting-house, and time was 
scarce left for the last messenger to return with 
the tidings of their approach. 

" The new alarm was now given ; the bell 
4 # 



42 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

rings, alarm-guns are fired, the drum beats to 
arms. Some of the militia had gone home, 
when dismissed ; but the greater part were in 
the neighbouring houses, and instantly obeyed 
the summons. Sixty or seventy appeared on 
the green and were drawn up in double ranks. 
At this moment the British column of eight 
hundred gleaming bayonets appears, headed by 
their mounted commanders, their banners fly- 
ing and drums beating a charge. To engage 
them with a handful of militia of course was 
madness, — to fly at the sight of them they dis- 
dained. The British troops rush furiously on ; 
their commanders, with mingled threats and 
execrations, bid the Americans lay down their 
arms and disperse, and their own troops to fire. 
A moment's delay, as of compunction, follows. 
The order with vehement imprecations is re- 
peated, and they fire. No one falls, and the 
band of self-devoted heroes, most of whom had 
never seen such a body of troops before, stand 
firm in the front of an army, outnumbering 
them ten to one. Another volley succeeds ; 
the killed and wounded drop, and it was not 
till they had returned the fire of the overwhelm- 
ing force that the militia were driven from the 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 43 

field. A scattered fire now succeeded on both 
sides, while the Americans remained in sight ; 
and the British troops were then drawn up on 
the green to fire a volley and give a shout in 
honour of the victory." 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 

Elated with its success at Lexington, the 
British army took up its march toward Con- 
cord. The intelligence of the projected expe- 
dition had been communicated to this town by 
Dr. Samuel Prescott ; and from Concord had 
travelled onward in every direction. The in- 
terval was employed in removing a portion of 
the public stores to the neighbouring towns, 
while the aged and infirm, the women and chil 
dren, sought refuge in the surrounding woods 
About seyen o'clock in the morning, the glitter 
mg arms of the British column were seen ad 
vancing on the Lincoln road. A body of mill 
tia, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
men, who had taken post for observation on the 



44 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

heights above the entrance to the town, retire 
at the approach of the army of the enemy, first 
to the hill a little farther north, and then beyond 
the bridge. The British troops press forward 
into the town, and are drawn up in front of the 
court-house. Parties are then ordered out to 
the various spots where the public stores and 
arms were supposed to be deposited. Much had 
been removed to places of safety, and some- 
thing was saved by the prompt and innocent 
artifices of individuals. The destruction of 
property and of arms was hasty and incom- 
plete, and considered as the object of an enter- 
prise of such fatal consequences, it stands in 
shocking contrast with the waste of blood by 
which it was effected. 

It was the first care of the British commander 
to cut off the approach of the Americans from 
the neighbouring towns, by destroying or occu- 
pying the bridges. A party was immediately 
sent to the south bridge and tore it up. A force 
of six companies, under Captains Parsons and 
Lowrie, was sent to the north bridge. Three 
companies under Captain Lowrie were left to 
guard it, and three under Captain Parsons pro- 
ceeded to Colonel Barrett's house, in search of 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 45 

provincial stores. While they were engaged 
on that errand, the militia of Concord, joined 
by their brave brethren from the neighbouring 
towns, gathered on the hill opposite the north 
bridge, under the command of Colonel Robin- 
son and Major Buttrick. The British compa- 
nies at the bridge were now apparently bewil- 
dered with the perils of their situation, and be- 
gan to tear up the planks of the bridge ; not 
remembering that this would expose their own 
party, then at Colonel Barrett's, to certain and 
entire destruction. The Americans, on the 
other hand, resolved to keep open the commu- 
nication with the town, and perceiving the at- 
tempt which was made to destroy the bridge, 
were immediately put in motion, with orders 
not to give the first fire. They drew near to 
the bridge, the Acton company in front, led on 
by the gallant Davis. Three alarm-guns were 
fired into the water, by the British, without ar- 
resting the march of the citizens. The signal 
for a general discharge is then made ; a British 
soldier steps from the ranks, and fires at Major 
Buttrick. The ball passed between his arm 
and his side, and slightly wounded Mr. Luther 
Blanchard, who stood near him. A volley in- 



16 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

stantly followed, and Captain Davis was shot 
through the heart, gallantly marching at the 
head of the Acton militia against the choice 
troops of the British line. A private of his 
company, Mr. Hosmer, of Acton, also fell at 
his side. A general action now ensued, which 
terminated in the retreat of the British party, 
after the loss of several killed and wounded, 
toward the centre of the town, followed by the 
brave band who had driven them from their 
post. The advance party of British at Colonel 
Barrett's was thus left to its fate ; and nothing 
would have been more easy than to effect its 
entire destruction. But the idea of a declared 
war had yet scarcely forced itself, with all its 
consequences, into the minds of our country- 
men ; and these advanced companies were al- 
lowed to return unmolested to the main band. 

It was now twelve hours since the first alarm 
had been given, the evening before, of the medi- 
tated expedition. The swift watches of that 
eventful night had scattered the tidings far and 
wide ; and widely as they spread, the people 
rose in their strength. The genius of America, 
on this the morning of her emancipation, had 
sounded her horn over the plains and upon the 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 4/ 

mountains ; and the indignant yeomanry of the 
land, armed with the weapons which had done 
service in their lathers' hands, poured to the 
spot where this new and strange tragedy was 
acting. The old New-England drums, that had 
beat at Louisburg, at Quebec, at Martinique, 
at the Havana, were now sounding on all the 
roads to Concord. There were officers in the 
British line that knew the sound ; they had heard 
it, in the deadly breach, beneath the black, 
deep-throated engines of the French and Span- 
ish castles, and they knew what followed, where 
that sound went before. With the British it 
was a question no longer of protracted contest, 
nor even of halting long enough to rest their 
exhausted troops, after a weary night's march, 
and all the labour, confusion, and distress of 
the day's efforts. Their dead were hastily bu- 
ried in the public square ; their wounded placed 
in the vehicles which the town afforded ; and 
a flight commenced, to which the annals of 
warfare will hardly afford a parallel. On all 
the neighbouring hills were multitudes from the 
surrounding country, of the unarmed and in- 
firm, of women and of children, who had fled 
from the terrors and the perils of the plunder 



43 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and conflagration of their homes ; or were col- 
lected, with fearful curiosity, to mark the pro- 
gress of this storm of war. The panic fears 
of a calamitous flight, on the part of the Bri- 
tish, transformed this inoffensive, timid throng 
into a threatening array of armed men ; and 
there was too much reason, for the misconcep- 
tion. Every height of ground, within reach 
of the line of march, was covered with the 
indignant avengers of their slaughtered bre- 
thren. The British light companies were sent 
out to great distances as flanking parties ; but 
who was to flank the flankers 1 Every patch 
of trees, every rock, every stream of water, 
every building, every stone wall, was lined, (I 
use the words of a British officer in the battle,) 
with an unintermitted fire. Every cross-road 
opened a new avenue to the assailants. Through 
one of these the gallant Brooks led up the mi- 
nute-men of Reading. At another defile they 
were encountered by the Lexington militia un- 
der Captain Parker, who, undismayed at the 
loss of more than a tenth of their number in 
killed and wounded in the morning, had returned 
to the conflict. At first the contest was kept 
up by the British with all the skill and valour 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 49 

of veteran troops. To a military eye it was 
not an unequal contest. The commander was 
not, or ought not to have been taken by sur- 
prise. Eight hundred picked men, grenadiers 
and light infantry, from the English army, 
were no doubt considered by General Gage a 
very ample detachment to march eighteen or 
twenty miles through an open country : and a 
very fair match for all the resistance which 
could be made by unprepared husbandmen, 
without concert, discipline, or leaders. With 
about ten times their number, the Grecian com- 
mander had forced a march out of the wrecks 
of a field of battle and defeat, through the bar- 
barous nations of Asia, for thirteen long months, 
from the plains of Babylon to the Black Sea, 
through forests, denies, and deserts, which the 
foot of civilized man had never trod. It was 
the American cause,— its holy foundation in 
truth and right, its strength and life in the 
hearts of the people, that converted what would 
naturally have been the undisturbed march of 
a strong, well-provided army, into a rabble rout 
of terror and death. It was this which sowed 
.he fields of our pacific villages with dragon's 
eeth ; which nerved the arm of age ; called 
5 



50 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the ministers and servants of the church into 
the hot fire ; and even filled with strange pas- 
sion and manly strength the heart and the arm 
of the stripling. A British historian, to paint 
the terrific aspect of things that presented itself 
to his countrymen, declares that the rebels 
swarmed upon the hills, as if they had dropped 
from the clouds. Before the flying troops had 
reached Lexington, their rout was entire. Some 
of the officers had been made prisoners, some 
had been killed, and several wounded, and 
among them the commander-in-chief, Colonel 
Smith. The ordinary means of preserving dis- 
cipline failed ; the wounded, in chaises and 
wagons, pressed to the front and obstructed the 
road ; wherever the flanking parties, from the 
nature of the ground, were forced to come in, 
the line of march was crowded and broken : 
the ammunition began to fail ; and at length 
the entire body was on a full run. " We at- 
tempted," says a British officer already quoted, 
" to stop the men and form them two deep, but 
to no purpose ; the confusion rather increased 
than lessened." An English historian says, 
the British soldiers were driven before the Ame- 
ricans like sheep ; till, by a last desperate effort, 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 51 

the officers succeeded in forcing their way to 
the front, " when they presented their swords 
and bayonets against the breasts of their own 
men, and told them, if they advanced they 
should die." Upon this they began to form, 
under what the same British officer pronounces 
" a very heavy fire," which must soon have led 
to the destruction or capture of the whole corps. 
At this critical moment a reinforcement arrived. 
Colonel Smith had sent back a messenger from 
Lexington to apprise General Gage of the check 
he had there received, and of the alarm which 
was running through the country. Three re- 
giments of infantry and two divisions of ma- 
rines with two field-pieces, under the command 
of Brigadier- General Lord Percy, were accord- 
ingly detached. They marched out of Boston, 
through Roxbury and Cambridge, and came up 
with the flying party, in the hour of their ex- 
treme peril. While their field-pieces kept the 
Americans at bay, the reinforcement drew up 
in a hollow square, into which, says the British 
historian, they received the exhausted fugitives, 
" who lay down on the ground, with their 
tongues hanging from their mouths, like dogs 
after a chase." 



52 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

A half hour was given lo rest ; the march 
was then resumed ; and under cover of the 
field-pieces, every house in Lexington, and on 
the road downwards, was plundered and set on 
fire. Though the flames in most cases were 
speedily extinguished, several houses were de- 
stroyed. Notwithstanding the attention of a 
great part of the Americans was thus drawn 
off, and although the British force was now 
more than doubled, their retreat still wore the 
aspect of a flight. The Americans filled the 
heights that overhung the road, and at every 
defile the struggle was sharp and bloody. At 
West Cambridge, the gallant Warren, never 
distant when danger was to be braved, appeared 
in the field, and a musket-ball soon cut off a 
lock of hair from his temple. General Heath 
was with him, nor does there appear till this 
moment, to have been any effective command 
among the American forces. 

Below West Cambridge, the militia from Dor- 
chester, Roxbury, and Brookline came up. The 
British field-pieces began to lose their terror. 
A sharp skirmish followed, and many fell on 
both sides. Indignation and outraged humanity 
struggled on the one hand, veteran discipline 



FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE. 58 

and desperation on the other ; and the contest, 
in more than one instance, was man to man, 
and bayonet to bayonet. 

The British officers had been compelled to 
descend from their horses to escape the certain 
destruction which attended their exposed situa- 
tion. The wounded, to the number of two hun- 
dred, now presented the most distressing and 
constantly increasing obstruction to the progress 
of the march. Near one hundred brave men 
had fallen in this disastrous flight ; a consider- 
able number had been made prisoners ; a round 
or two of ammunition only remained ; and it 
was not till late in the evening, nearly twenty- 
four hours from the time when the first detach- 
ment was put in motion, that the exhausted 
remnant reached the heights of Charlestown. 
The boats of the vessels of war were immedi- 
ately employed to transport the wounded ; the 
remaining British troops in Boston came over 
to Charlestown to protect their weary country- 
men during the night ; and before the close of 
the next day the royal army was formally be- 
sieged in Boston. 
5* 



54 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 

The traveller who visits Boston can scarcely 
fail to associate in his mind the field of battle 
where the early heroes of the Revolution first 
established the character of that event, marked 
as it was by undaunted resolution, the offspring 
of a determined purpose. From the State-House 
of Massachusetts, conspicuously seated on an 
eminence, the eye ranges over Charlestown, a 
considerable place that now adjoins Boston by 
a spacious bridge. The patriot will scarcely 
content himself with a remote view of this 
impressive scene, designated by a monument to 
the memory of General Warren, who fell dis- 
tinguished on that occasion. At a distance of 
about two miles, some hills are discerned, viz., 
Prospect Hill, Ploughed Hill, Breed's Hill, and 
Bunker's Hill. As you advance on the road 
in the rear of the navy yard at Charlestown, 
Breed's Hill rears its venerable brow on the 
left. Here it was that a detachment from the 
American army of one thousand men, under 
Colonel Prescott, began at twelve o'clock in the 



BATTLE OF BUNKER S HILL. 00 

night of the 16th of June, 1775, to throw up 
some works extending from Charlestown to the 
river which separates that town from Boston. 
They proceeded with such secrecy and despatch 
that the officers of a ship of war then in the 
river, expressed their astonishment when in the 
morning they saw entrenchments reared and 
fortified in the space of a few hours, where, 
from the contiguity of the situation, they least 
expected the Americans would look them in the 
face. 

The alarm being immediately given, orders 
were issued that a continual fire should be kept 
playing upon the unfinished works, from the 
ships, the floating-batteries in the river, and 
Copp's Hill, a fortified post of the British in 
Boston, directly opposite the American redoubt; 
but, with extraordinary perseverance, the Ame- 
ricans continued to strengthen their works, not 
returning a shot till noon, when a number of 
boats and barges, filled with regular troops from 
Boston, approached Charlestown. The day 
was exceedingly hot. Ten companies of grena- 
diers, ten of light infantry, with a proportion 
of field artillery, landed at Moreton's Point, the 
whole commanded by Major-General Howe and 



56 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Brigadier-General Pigot. These troops having 
formed, remained in that position till joined by 
a second detachment of light infantry and gre- 
nadier companies, the 47th regiment, and a bat- 
talion of marines, making in the whole near 
three thousand men. 

The Americans had not a rifleman amongst 
them, not one being yet arrived from the south- 
ward, nor had they any rifle pieces ; they had 
but common muskets, and these mostly without 
bayonets ; but then they were almost all marks- 
men, being accustomed to sporting of one kind 
or other from their youth. A reinforcement 
of Massachusetts troops was posted in a re- 
doubt, and in part of the breast-work nearest 
it. The left of the breast-work, and the open 
ground stretching beyond its point to the water 
side, along which time did not admit of accom- 
plishing the work, were occupied partly by the 
Massachusetts, and partly by the Connecticut 
men under Captain Nolton, of Ash ford, and 
the New Hampshire under Colonel Stark, the 
whole amounting to about one thousand five 
hundred men. By direction of the officers the 
troops upon the open ground pulled up the post 
and rail fence, and carrying it forward to an- 



BATTLE OF BUNKER S HILL. 0/ 

other of the same kind, and placing some clods 
of grass between, formed a slight defence in 
some parts. 

A critical scene now opened to the view. 
The British regulars, formed in two lines, ad- 
vanced slowly, frequently halting to give time 
for the artillery to fire. The light infantry 
were directed to force the left point of the 
breast-work, and to take the American line in 
flank. The grenadiers advanced to attack in 
front, supported by two battalions, under Gene- 
ral Howe, while the left, under General Pigot, in- 
clined to the right of the American line. As the 
British advanced nearer and nearer to the attack, 
a carcass was discharged from Copp's Hill, which 
set on fire an old house in Charlestown, and 
the flames quickly spread to others. The houses 
at the eastern end of Charlestown were set on 
fire by seamen from the boats. The whole town 
consisting of about three hundred dwelling 
houses, and nearly two hundred other buildings 
speedily became involved in one great blaze 
being chiefly of timber. The large meeting 
house, by its aspiring steeple, formed a pyra 
mid of fire above the rest. The houses, heights 
and steeples in Boston were covered with spec 



58 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

tators of this anxious scene, and the surround- 
ing hills were occupied by others. 

The slow movement of the British troops 
advancing to the attack, afforded to the Ameri- 
cans the advantage of taking a surer and more 
deliberate aim. The wind having shifted, car- 
ried the smoke from the conflagration in such 
a direction that the British had not the cover 
of it in their approach. The destruction of the 
place, however, served to prevent their oppo- 
nents from effecting a lodgement in the houses 
whence they might have annoyed to advantage. 
General Warren, who had been appointed by 
Congress a Major-General in their armies only 
four days before, was every where aiding and 
encouraging his men. General Pomeroy com- 
manded a brigade, and General Putnam, a 
brave and meritorious officer, directed the whole 
on the fall of General Warren. The troops 
were ordered to reserve their fire until the close 
approach of the British. They strictly obeyed, 
with a steadiness and composure that would 
have done honour to the most approved vete- 
rans, and when the enemy had arrived within 
ten or twelve rods poured in a discharge of 
small arms which arrested and so staggered 



BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 59 

their foes, that they could only for a time re- 
turn it, without advancing a step. Finding the 
stream of the American fire so incessant as to 
mow down whole sections, they retired in dis- 
order to the river. Rallying as well as their 
extraordinary loss of officers would admit of, 
the British again advanced with an apparent 
resolution of forcing their way, whatever loss 
of lives it might cost them. The Americans 
again reserved their fire till the enemy arrived 
within five or six rods, when, discharging their 
pieces, which were admirably pointed, they threw 
the opposing ranks again into confusion. Gen- 
eral Clinton, who, with General Gage, the com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces in Boston, 
was on Copp's Hill, observing the events of the 
day, when he perceived the disconcerted state of 
the troops, passed over and joined just in time to 
be of service. The united and strenuous efforts of 
the different officers were again successful, and 
the columns were advanced a third time to the 
attack, with a desperation increased by the un- 
shaken opposition they experienced. It is pro- 
bable, from the nature of the resistance, that 
every effort to dislodge the Americans would 
have been ineffectual, ha J not their ammunition 



60 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

failed ; on sending for a supply none could be 
procured, as there was but a barrel and a half 
in the magazine. This deficiency prevented 
them from making the same defence as before ; 
while the British enjoyed a farther advantage 
by bringing some cannon to bear so as to rake 
the inside of the breast-work from end to end, 
upon which the Americans were compelled to 
retreat within their redoubt. The British now 
made a decisive movement, covered by the fire 
of the ships, batteries, and field-artillery. The 
Americans disputed possession of the works 
with the butt-ends of their muskets, until the 
redoubt, easily mounted and attacked on three 
sides at once, was taken, and their defences, 
the labour of only a few hours, had been pros- 
trated by artillery. Whilst these operations 
were going on at the breast-work and redoubt, 
the British light infantry were engaged in at- 
tempting to force the left point of the former, 
through the space between that and the water, 
that they might take the American line in flank. 
The resistance they met with was as formida- 
ble and fatal in its effects as experienced in the 
other quarter; for here, also, the Americans 
by command, reserved their fire till the enemy's 



BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. CI 

close approach, and then poured in a discharge 
so well directed and with such execution, that 
wide chasms were made in every rank. Some 
of the Americans were slightly guarded by the 
rail fences, but others were altogether exposed, 
so that their bravery in close combat was put 
to the test, independent of defences neither 
formed by military rules nor workmen. The 
most determined assaults of their regular oppo- 
nents, who were now brought to the charge 
with redoubled fury, could not, after all, com- 
pel them to retreat, till they observed that their 
main body had left the hill, when they retro- 
graded, but with a regularity that could scarcely 
have been expected of troops newly embodied, 
and who in general never before saw an en- 
gagement. Overpowered by numbers, and see- 
ing all hope of reinforcement cut off by the 
incessant fire of the ships across a neck of land 
that separated them from the country, they 
were compelled to quit the ground. 

The staunch opposition of this band of pa- 
triots saved their comrades, who must other- 
wise have been cut off, as the enemy, but for 
them, would have been in the rear of the whole. 
While these brave heroes retired, disputing 
6 



62 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

every inch of ground, and taking up every new 
position successively that admitted of defence, 
their leader, the gallant Warren, unfortunately 
received a ball through the right side of the 
skull, and mechanically clapping his hand to 
the wound, dropped down dead. 

The British, taught by the experience of this 
day to respect their rustic adversaries, content- 
ed themselves with taking post at Bunker's Hill, 
which they fortified. The Americans, with the 
enthusiasm of men determined to be free, did 
the same upon Prospect Hill, a mile in front. 
It was here that General Putnam regaled the 
precious remains of his army after their fa- 
tigues, with several hogsheads of beer. Owing 
to some unaccountable error, the working par- 
ties who had been incessantly labouring the 
whole of the preceding night, were neither re- 
lieved nor supplied with refreshments, but left 
to engage under all these disadvantages. 

This battle was generally admitted, by expe- 
rienced officers of the British army who wit- 
nessed it and had served at Minden, Dettingen, 
and throughout the campaigns in Germany, to 
have been unparalleled for the time it lasted, 
and the numbers engaged. There was a con- 



BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 63 

tinued sheet of fire from the breast-work for 
near half an hour, and the action was hot for 
about double that period. In this short space 
of time, the loss of the British, according to 
General Gage, amounted to 1054, of whom 
226 were killed: of these 19 were commis- 
sioned officers, including a lieutenant-colonel, 
2 majors, and 7 captains ; 70 other officers 
were wounded. 

The battle of Quebec, in the former war, 
with all its glory, and the vastness of the con- 
sequences attending it, was not so disastrous in 
the loss of officers as this affair of an Ameri- 
can entrenchment, the work of but a few hours. 
The fact was, the Americans, accustomed to 
aim with precision and to select objects, directed 
their skill principally against the officers of the 
British army, justly conceiving that much con- 
fusion would ensue on their fall. Nearly all 
the officers around the person of General Howe 
were killed or disabled, and the general him- 
self narrowly escaped. At the battle of Min- 
den, where the British regiments sustained the 
force of the whole French army for a consi- 
derable time, the number of officers killed, in- 
cluding two who died soon after of their wounds, 



64 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

was only 13, and the wounded 66; the total 
loss of the army on that occasion was 291 in 
killed, and 1037 wounded. 

The British acknowledged the valour of their 
opponents, which, though by no means new to 
them, surpassed on this occasion what could 
have been expected of an handful of cottagers, 
as they termed them, under officers of little 
military knowledge and still less . experience, 
whom they affected to hold in contempt. 

They pretended to forget that many of the 
common soldiers who gained such laurels by 
their singular bravery on the Plains of Abra- 
ham, when Wolfe died in the arms of victory, 
were natives of the Massachusetts Bay. When 
Martinique was attacked in 1761, and the Bri- 
tish force was greatly reduced by sickness and 
mortality, the timely arrival of the New Eng- 
land troops enabled the British commander to 
prosecute the reduction of the island to a happy 
issue. A part of the troops being sent on an 
expedition to the Havana, the New-Englanders, 
whose health had been much impaired by ser- 
vice and the climate, were embarked in three 
ships for their native country, with a view to 
their recovery. Before they had completed 



BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 63 

their voyage, they found themselves restored, 
ordered the ships about, steered immediately 
for the Havana, arrived when the British were 
too much weakened to expect success, and by 
their junction, contributed materially to the 
surrender of the place. Their fidelity, activity, 
and good conduct were such as to gain the 
approbation and unbounded confidence of the 
British officers. Of such elementary principles 
were the heroes of Bunker's Hill composed. 
It surely was a misguided policy to rouse the 
opposition of men made of these materials. 

A spot so fertile in great associations, could 
not but attract the special notice of the Presi- 
dent of the United States during a tour to the 
eastward. It was precisely where Warren fell 
that his excellency met the citizens of Charles- 
town on the occasion, and addressed them as 
follows : 

" It is highly gratifying to me to meet the 
committee of Charlestown upon a theatre so 
interesting to the United States. It is impossi- 
ble to approach Bunker Hill, where the war of 
the Revolution commenced, with so much ho- 
nour to the nation, without being deeply afTected. 
The blood spilt here roused the whole Ameri- 
6* 



6*6' STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

can people, and united them in a common cause, 
in defence of their rights. — That union will 
never he broken." 

Whether indeed we consider the action of 
the 17th of June in itself, or as the prelude to 
succeeding events, we must pronounce it to be 
the most glorious of our history, for the num- 
bers engaged and the defences made use of. 

If we except that of New Orleans, no paral- 
lel is to be found to it in the extent of impres- 
sion produced upon the enemy. But there time 
had been afforded for maturing the works, 
which were constructed under the superintend- 
ence of skilful engineers, and extended across 
a position that could not be outflanked. Twelve 
hours only were gained for those on Breed's 
Hill, formed, during a great part of the time, 
under a heavy fire from the enemy's ships, a 
number of floating batteries, beside fortifications 
which poured upon them an incessant shower 
of shot and shells, and left incomplete, owing 
to the intolerable cannonade. 



JOHN HANCOCK. 67 



JOHN HANCOCK. 



During the siege at Bos'.on, General Wash- 
ington consulted Congress upon the propriety 
of bombarding the town of Boston. Mr. Han- 
cock was then President of Congress. After 
General Washington's letter was read, a solemn 
silence ensued. This was broken by a mem- 
ber making a motion that the House should 
resolve itself into a committee of the whole, in 
order that Mr. Hancock might give his opinion 
upon the important subject, as he was deeply 
interested from having all his estate in Boston. 
After he left the chair, he addressed the chair- 
man of the committee of the whole in the fol- 
lowing words. " It is true, Sir, nearly alt /he 
property I have in the world is in houses and 
other real estate in the town of Boston ; but if 
the expulsion of the British army from it, and 
the liberties of our country, require their being 
burnt to ashes — issve the order- for that pur- 
pose immediately /" 



66 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



BROTHER JONATHAN. 

A sea captain, who chanced to be in London 
during our revolutionary war, met several Bri- 
tish officers in a tavern, who were busily dis- 
cussing American affairs. " We should have 
conquered them long ago," said one, " had it 
not been for that arch rebel, Washington." 
" With all his skilful manoeuvres, they are the 
same as conquered already," observed another. 
The American said nothing, but his counte- 
nance bore strong marks of honest indignation. 
" What, Jonathan, are you from the rebel colo- 
nies ?" asked the officers. " I am from New 
England, gentlemen." " Well, what news do 
you bring? Will your crops be heavy enough 
to feed the regulars ?" " My countrymen tell 
me," replied he, " that British blood is the best 
manure they have ever had. Turnips larger 
than a peck measure are raised on Bunker 
Hill." 



DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. 69 



DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. 

General Montgomery had marched at the 
precise time stipulated, and had arrived at his 
destined place of attack, nearly about the time 
we attacked the first barrier. He was not one 
that would loiter. Colonel Campbell, of the 
New York troops, a large, good-looking man, 
who was second in command of that party, and 
was deemed a veteran, accompanied the army 
to the assault, his station was rearward ; Gene- 
ral Montgomery, with his aids, were at the point 
of the column. 

It is impossible to give you a fair and com- 
plete idea of the nature and situation of the 
place solely with the pen — the pencil is required 
As by the special permission of government 
obtained by the good offices of Captain Pren 
tis, in the summer following, Boyd, a few others 
and myself, reviewed the causes of our disas 
ter ; it is, therefore, in my power, so far as my 
abilities will permit, to give you a tolerable no 
tion of the spot. Cape Diamond nearly resem 
bles the great jutting rock, which is in the nar 



7U STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

rows of Hunter's falls, on the Susquehanna. 
The rock, at the latter place, shoots out as 
steeply as that at Quebec, but by no means 
forms so great an angle, on the margin of the 
river ; but is more craggy. There is a stronger 
and more obvious difference in the comparison. 
When you surmount the hill at St. Charles, or 
the St. Lawrence side, which to the eye are 
equally high and steep, you find yourself on 
Abraham's Plains, and upon an extensive cham- 
paign country. The bird's-eye view round 
Quebec, bears a striking conformity to the sites 
of Northumberland and Pittsburg, in Pennsyl- 
vania ; but the former is on a more gigantic 
scale, and each of the latter wants the steep- 
ness and cragginess of the back ground, and 
a depth of rivers. This detail is to instruct 
you in the geographical situation of Quebec, 
and for the sole purpose of explaining the man- 
ner of General Montgomery's death, and the 
reasons of our failure. From Wolf's cove there 
is a good beach, down to, and around " Cape 
Diamond." The bulwarks of the city came to 
the edge of the hill, above that place. Thence 
down the side of the precipice, slantingly to the 
brink of the river, there was a stockade of 



DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. 71 

strong posts, fifteen or twenty feet high, knit 
together by a stout railing, at bottom and top 
with pins. This was no mean defence, and 
was at the distance of one hundred yards from 
the point of the rock. Within this palisade, 
and at a few yards from the very point itself, 
there was a like palisade, though it did not run 
so high up the hill. Again, within Cape Dia- 
mond, and probably at a distance of fifty yards, 
there stood a block-house, which seemed to take 
up the space between the foot of the hill and 
the precipitous bank of the river, leaving a cart- 
way, or passage on each side of it. When 
heights and distances are spoken of, you must 
recollect that the description of Cape Diamond 
and its vicinity is merely that of the eye, made 
as it were running, under the inspection of an 
officer. The review of the ground our army 
had acted upon, was accorded us as a par- 
ticular favour. Even to have stepped the spaces 
in a formal manner, would have been disho- 
nourable, if not a species of treason. A block- 
house, if well constructed, is an admirable me- 
thod of defence, which in the process of the 
war, to our cost, was fully experienced. In the 
instance now before us (though the house was 



72 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

not built upon the most approved principles) 
yet it was a formidable object. It was a square 
of perhaps forty or fifty feet. The large logs 
neatly squared, were tightly bound together, 
by dove-tail work. If I am not much mis- 
taken, the lower story contained loop-holes for 
musketry, so narrow, that those within could 
not be harmed from without. The upper story 
had four or more port holes, for cannon of a 
large callibre. These guns were charged with 
grape or cannister shot, and were pointed with 
exactness towards the avenue at Cape Diamond. 
The hero Montgomery came. The drowsy or 
drunken guard did not hear the sawing of the 
posts of the first palisade. Here, if not very 
erroneous, four posts were sawed and thrown 
aside, so as to admit four men abreast. The 
column entered with a manly fortitude. Mont- 
gomery, accompanied by his aids, M'Pherson 
and Cheeseman, advanced in front. Arriving 
at the second palisade, the general, with his 
own hands, sawed down two of the pickets in 
such a manner as to admit two men abreast. 
These sawed pickets were close under the hill, 
and but a few yards from the very point of 
the rock, out of the view and fire of the enemy, 



DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. 



from the block-house. Until our troops ad- 
vanced to the point, no harm could ensue, out 
by stones thrown from above. Even now there 
had been but an imperfect discovery of the ad- 
vancing of an enemy, and that only by the 
intoxicated guard. The guard fled, the general 
advanced a few paces. A drunken sailor re- 
turned to his gun, swearing he would not for- 
sake it while undischarged. This fact is related 
from the testimony of the guard on the morn- 
ing of our capture, some of those sailors being 
our guard. Applying the match, this single 
discharge deprived us of our excellent com- 
mander. 

Examining the spot, the officer who escorted 
us, professing to be one of those who first came 
to the place after the death of the general, 
showed the position in which the general's body 
was found. It lay two paces from the brink 
of the river, on the back, the arms extended — 
Cheeseman lay on the left, and M'Pherson on 
the right, in a triangular position. Two other 
brave men lay near them. The ground above 
described was visited by an inquisitive eye, so 
so that you may rely with some implicitness on 
the truth of the picture. As all danger from 
7 



74 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

without had vanished, the government had not 
only permitted the mutilated palisades to remain, 
without renewing the enclosure, but the very 
sticks, sawed by the hand of our commander, 
still lay strewed about the spot. 

Colonel Campbell, appalled by the death of 
the general, retreated a little way from Cape 
Diamond, out of the reach of the cannon of the 
block-house, and pretendedly called a council 
of officers, who, it was said, justified his reced- 
ing from the attack. By rushing on, as military 
duty required, and a brave man would have 
done, the block-house might have been occupied 
by a small number, and was unassailable from 
without but by cannon. From the block-house 
to the centre of the lower town, where we were, 
there was no obstacle to impede a force so pow- 
erful, as that under Colonel Campbell. 

Cowardice, or a want of good will towards 
our cause, left us to our miserable fate. A 
junction, though we might not conquer the for- 
tress, would enable us to make an honourable 
retreat, though with the loss of many valuable 
lives. Campbell, who was ever after considered 
as a poltroon in grain, retreated, leaving the 
bodies of the general, M'Pherson, and Cheese- 



DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. 75 

man, to be devoured by the dogs. The disgust 
caused among us, as to Campbell, was so great 
as to create the unchristian wish that he might 
be hanged. In that desultory period, though 
he was tried, he was acquitted ; that was also 
the case of Colonel Enos, who deserted us on 
the Kennebec. There never were two men 
more worthy of punishment of the most exem- 
plary kind. 

It was on this day, that my heart was ready 
to burst with grief, at viewing the funeral of 
our beloved general. Carleton had, in our 
former wars with the French, been the friend 
and fellow-soldier of Montgomery. Though 
political opinion, perhaps ambition or interest, 
had thrown these worthies on different sides of 
the great question, yet the former could not but 
honour the remains of his quondam friend. 
About noon the procession passed our quarters. 
It was most solemn. The coffin covered with 
a pall, surmounted by transverse swords, was 
oorne by men. The regular troops, particularly 
that fine body of men, the seventh regiment, 
with reversed arms, and scarfs on the left elbow, 
accompanied the corpse to the grave. The 
funerals of the other officers, both friends and 



7b STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

enemies, were performed this day. From many 
of us it drew tears of affection for the defunct, 
and speaking for myself, tears of greeting and 
thankfulness towards General Carleton. The 
soldiery and inhabitants appeared affected by 
the loss of this invaluable man, though he was 
their enemy. If such men as Washington, 
Carleton, and Montgomery, had had the entire 
direction of the adverse war, the contention in 
the event might have happily terminated to the 
advantage of both sections of the nation. 
M'Pherson,Cheeseman, Hendricks, Humphreys, 
were all dignified by the manner of the burial. 



ATTACK ON SULLIVAN'S ISLAND. 

The execution of the plan of reducing the 
southern colonies, was committed to General 
Clinton and Sir Peter Parker ; who, having 
formed a junction at Cape Fear, concluded to 
attempt the reduction of Charleston. For that 
place they according sailed, with 2800 land 
forces ; and, crossing Charleston bar on the 



ATTACK ON SULLIVAN'S ISLAND. 77 

4th of June, anchored about three miles from 
Sullivan's Island. Every exertion had been 
previously made to put the colony, and espe- 
cially its capital, in a posture of defence. 
Works had been erected on Sullivan's Island, 
which lies about six miles below Charleston 
toward the sea, and so near the channel, as to 
be a convenient post for annoying ships when 
approaching the town. The militia of the coun- 
try now repaired in great numbers to Charles- 
ton ; and at this critical juncture Major-Gene- 
ral Lee, who had been appointed by Congress 
to the immediate command of all the forces in 
the southern department, arrived with the regu- 
lar troops of the northern colonies. On the 
28th of June, Sir Peter Parker attacked the fort 
on Sullivan's Island, with two 50 gun ships, 
four frigates of 28 guns, the Sphynx of 20 
guns, the Friendship armed vessel of 22 guns, 
and the Ranger sloop and Thunder bomb, each 
of 8 guns. On the fort were mounted 26 can- 
non, with which the garrison, consisting of 375 
regulars and a few militia, under the command 
of Colonel Moultrie, made a most gallant de- 
fence. The attack commenced between ten and 
eleven in the morning, and was continued up- 
7* 



78 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ward of ten hours. The flag-staff of the fort 
being shot away very early in the action,, Ser- 
geant Jasper leaped down upon the beach, took 
up the flag, and, regardless of the incessant 
firing of the shipping, mounted and placed it 
on the rampart. Three of the ships, advancing 
about twelve o'clock to attack the western wing 
of the fort, became entangled with a shoal ; to 
which providential incident the preservation of 
the garrison is ascribed. At half past nine, 
the firing on both sides ceased ; and soon after 
the ships slipped their cables. In this action, 
the deliberate well-directed fire of the gar- 
rison exceedingly shattered the ships ; and the 
killed and wounded on board exceeded 200 
men. The loss of the garrison was only 10 
men killed and 22 wounded. Though many 
thousand shot were fired from the shipping, yet 
the works were but little damaged. The fort 
being built of palmetto, a tree indigenous to 
Carolina, of a remarkably spongy nature, the 
shot which struck it were merely buried in the 
wood, without shivering it. Hardly a hut or a 
tree on the island escaped. The thanks of 
Congress were given to General Lee, and to 
Colonels Thomson and Moultrie, for their good 



THE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS. 79 

conduct on this memorable day ; and the fort, 
in compliment to the commanding officer, was 
from that time called Fort Moultrie. 



THE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS. 

The subjoined extract of a characteristic 
letter from John Adams, describing a scene in 
the first Congress in Philadelphia, in 1774, 
shows very clearly on what Power the mighty 
men of old rested their cause. Mr. Adams 
thus wrote to a friend at the time : 

" When Congress met, Mr. Cushing made a 
motion that it should be opened with prayer. 
It was opposed by Mr. Jay, of New York, and 
Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, because we 
were so divided in religious sentiments, some 
Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabap- 
tists, some Presbyterians, and some Congrega- 
tionalists, that we could not join in the same 
act of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams rose and 
said that he was no bigot, and could hear a 
prayer from any good man of piety and virtue 



SO STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

who was at the same time a friend to his coun- 
try. He was a stranger in Philadelphia, but 
had heard that Mr. Duche (Dushay they pro- 
nounced it) deserved that character, and there- 
fore he moved that Mr. Duche, an Episcopal 
clergyman, might be desired to read prayers to 
the Congress, to-morrow morning. This mo- 
tion was seconded, and passed in the affirma- 
tive. Mr. Randolph, our President, waited on 
Mr. Duche, and received for answer that if his 
health would permit, he certainly would. Ac- 
cordingly, next morning he appeared with his 
clerk, in his pontificals, and read several pray- 
ers in the established form, and he then read 
the collect for the seventh day of September, 
which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must 
remember, this was the next morning after we 
had heard the rumour of the horrible cannon- 
ade of Eoston. It seemed as if Heaven had 
ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning. 
" After this, Mr. Duche, unexpectedly to 
everybody, struck out into an extemporary 
prayer, which filled the bosom of every man 
present. I must confess I never heard a better 
prayer, or one so well pronounced. Episcopa- 
lian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed 



THE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS. 81 

with such fervour, such ardour, such correctness 
and pathos, and in language so elegant and 
sublime, for America, for Congress, for the pro- 
vince of the Massachusetts Bay, especially the 
town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect 
upon everybody here. I must beg you to read 
that Psalm. If there is any faith in the sortes 
Yirgiliance, or sortes Homericce, or especially 
the sortes Biblica?, it would be thought provi- 
dential." 

Here was a scene worthy of the painter's 
art. It was in Carpenter's Hall, Carpenter's 
Court, between Third and Fourth streets, Phila- 
delphia, a building which still survives in its 
original condition, though now converted into 
an auction mart, the forty-four individuals met 
to whom this service was read. 

Washington was kneeling there, and Henry, 
and Randolph, and Rutledge, and Lee, and Jay ; 
and by their side there stood, bowed down m 
reverence, the Puritan Patriots of New Eng- 
land, who at that moment had reason to believe 
that an armed soldiery was wasting their hum- 
ble households. It was believed that Boston 
had been bombarded and destroyed. They 
prayed fervently for " America, for the Con- 



82 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

gress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
and especially for the town of Boston :" and 
who can realize the emotions with which they 
turned imploringly to heaven for divine inter- 
position and aid? " It was enough," says Mr. 
Adams, " to melt a heart of stone. I saw the 
tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave, pa- 
cific Quakers of Philadelphia." 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

On the 6th of May, 1776, John Adams 
moved a resolution, in Congress, that the colo- 
nies, which had not already done so, should 
establish independent systems of government ; 
and this resolution, after having been strenu- 
ously debated for nine days, passed. The deed 
was done, — but the principle must be asserted. 
On the 7th of June, by previous concert, reso- 
lutions to that effect were moved by Richard 
Henry Lee, of Virginia, and seconded by John 
Adams, of Massachusetts. They were debated 
in committee of the whole, on Saturday, the 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 83 

8th, and again on Monday, the 10th, on which 
last day the first resolution was reported to the 
House, in the following form : " That these 
united colonies are, and of right ought to be, 
free and independent states ; that they are ab- 
solved from all allegiance to the British crown ; 
and that all political connexion between them 
and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to 
be, totally dissolved." The final decision of 
this resolution was postponed till the first day 
of July, but in the meanwhile it was, with 
characteristic simplicity, resolved, in order, 
" that no time be lost, in case the Congress 
agree thereto, that a committee be appointed to 
prepare a Declaration, to the effect of the first 
resolution." The following day a committee 
of five was chosen. Richard Henry Lee, who 
had moved the resolutions for independence, 
and would of course have been placed at the 
head of the committee, had been obliged, by 
sickness in his family, to go home, and Tho- 
mas Jefferson, of Virginia, the youngest mem- 
ber of the Congress, was elected first on the 
committee in his place. John Adams stood 
second on the committee ; the other members 
were Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and 



84 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Chancellor Livingston. Jefferson and Adams 
were, by their brethren on the committee, de- 
puted to draw the Declaration, and the immor- 
tal work, was performed by Jefferson. 

Meantime the resolution had not yet been 
voted in Congress. The first day of July came, 
and at the request of a colony, the decision 
was postponed till the following day. On that 
day, July the 2d, it passed. The discussion of 
the Declaration continued for that and the fol- 
lowing day. On the 3d of July, John Adams 
wrote to his wife, in the following memorable 
strain : " Yesterday, the greatest question was 
decided, which was ever debated in America ; 
and greater perhaps never was nor will be de- 
cided among men. A resolution was passed, 
without one dissenting colony, — That these 
United States are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent States." In another letter the 
same day, he wrote, " The day is passed ; the 
second of July, 1776, will be a memorable 
epoch in the history of America. I am apt to 
believe it will be celebrated by succeeding gen- 
erations, as the great anniversary festival. It 
ought to be commemorated as the Day of De- 
liverance, by solemn acts of devotion to Al- 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 85 

mighty God. It ought to be solemnized with 
pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bon- 
fires, and illuminations from one end of the 
continent to the other, from this time forward 
for ever. You will think me transported with 
enthusiasm; but I am not. I am well aware 
of the toil, blood, and treasure, that it will cost 
to maintain this Declaration, and support and 
defend these States ; yet through all the gloom 
I can see rays of light and glory ; I can see 
that the end is worth more than all the means ; 
that posterity will triumph, although you and I 
may rue, which I hope we shall not." 

On the following day, the 4th, the Declara- 
tion was formally adopted by Congress, and 
proclaimed to the world ; — the most important 
document in the political history of nations. 
As the day on which this solemn manifesto 
was made public, rather than that on which the 
resolution was adopted in private, was deemed 
the proper date of the country's independence, 
the Fourth of July has been consecrated as the 
National Anniversary ; and will thus be cele- 
brated, with patriotic zeal and pious gratitude, 
by the citizens of America, to the end of time. 
8 



*3 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



DR. FRAXKLJX IX COXGRESS. 

Whbm the Declaration of Independence was 
under the consideration of Congress, there were 
two or three unlucky expressions in it, which 
gave offence to some members. The words 
" Scotch and other auxiliaries," excited the ire 
of a gentleman or two of that country. Se- 
vere strictures on the conduct of the British 
king, in negativing our repeated repeals of the 
law which permitted the importation of slaves, 
were disapproved by some southern gentlemen, 
whose reflections were not yet matured to the 
full abhorrence of that traffic. Although the 
offensive expressions were immediately yielded, 
those gentlemen continued their depredations 
on other parts of the instrument. I was sitting 
by Dr. Franklin, who perceived that I was not 
insensible to the mutilations. " I have made it 
a rule," said he, " whenever it is in my power, 
to avoid becoming the draughtsman of papers 
to be reviewed by a public body. I took my 
lesson from an incident which I will relate to 



DR. FRANKLIN IN CONGRESS. b7 

you. When I was a journeyman printer, one 
of my companions, an apprentice hatter, having 
served his time, was about to open shop for 
himself. His first concern was to have a hand- 
some signboard, with a proper inscription. He 
composed it in these words : — ' John Thompson, 
Hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money? 
with the figure of a hat subjoined. But he 
thought he would submit it to his friends for 
their amendments. The first he showed it to, 
thought the word ' hatter'' tautologous, because 
followed by the words ' makes hats,' which 
show he was a hatter. — It was struck out. The 
next observed that the word ' makes' might as 
well be omitted, because his customers would 
not care who made the hats ; if good, and to 
their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever 
made. He struck it out. A third said he thought 
the words ' for ready money' were useless, as 
it was not the custom of the place to sell on 
credit — every one who purchased expected to 
pay. They were parted with and the inscrip- 
tion now stood, 'John Thompson sells hats.' 
Sells hats ? says his next friend ; why nobody 
will expect you to give them away. What then 
is the use of that word? It was stricken out, 



88 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and « hats' followed it, the rather as there was 
one painted on the board ; so his inscription 
was reduced ultimately to ' John Thompson,' 
with the figure of a hat subjoined." 



PATRIOTIC SCHOOL BOYS. 

In November, 1776, the General Court or- 
dered four brass cannon to be purchased for the 
use of the artillery companies in Boston. Two 
of these guns were kept in a gun-house that 
stood opposite the Mall, at the corner of West 
street. A school-house was the next building, 
and a yard enclosed with a high fence was 
common to both. Major Paddock, who then 
commanded the company, having been heard 
to express his intention of surrendering these 
guns to the British army, a few individuals re- 
solved to secure for the country a property 
which belonged to it, and which, in the emer- 
gency of the times, had an importance very 
disproportionate to its intrinsic value. 

Having concerted their plan, the party passed 



PATRIOTIC SCHOOL BOYS. 89 

through the school-house into the gun-house, 
and were able to open the doors which were 
upon the yard, by a small crevice, through 
which they raised the bar that secured them. 
The moment for the execution of the project 
was that of the roll-call, when the sentinel, 
who was stationed at one door of the building, 
would be less likely to hear their operations. 

The guns were taken off their carriages, car- 
ried into the school-room, and placed in a large 
box under the master's desk, in which wood 
was kept. Immediately after the roll-call, a 
lieutenant and sergeant came into the gun-house 
to look at the cannon, previously to removing 
them. A young man, who had assisted in their 
removal, remained by the building, and followed 
the officer in, as an innocent spectator. When 
the carriages were found without the guns, the 
sergeant exclaimed, " Halloa, they 're gone ! 
I '11 be hanged if these fellows won't steal the 
teeth out of your head, while you 're keeping 
guard." They then began to search the build- 
ing for them, and afterward the yard ; and 
when they came to the gate that opened into 
the street, the officers observed that they could 
not have passed that way, because a cobweb 
8* 



tKJ STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

across the opening was not broken. They next 
went into the school-house, which they exa- 
mined all over, except the box, on which the 
master placed his foot, which was lame ; and 
the officer, with true courtesy, on that account 
excused him from rising. Several boys were 
present, but not one lisped a word. The Bri- 
tish officers soon went back to the gun-house, 
and gave up the pursuit in vexation. The guns 
remained in that box for a fortnight, and many 
of the boys were acquainted with the fact, but 
not one of them betrayed the secret. At the 
end of that time, the person who had withdrawn 
them, came in the evening with a large trunk 
on a wheelbarrow ; the guns were put into it 
and carried up to a blacksmith's-shop at the 
South-end, and there deposited under the coal. 
After lying there for a while, they were put 
into a boat in the night, and safely transported 
within the American lines. 



BATTLE OF LO.NG ISLAND. 91 



BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 

When the whole British army was landed, 
the Hessians, under General Heister, composed 
the centre at Flatbush ; Major-General Grant 
commanded the left wing, which extended to 
the coast ; and the principal army, under the 
command of General Clinton, Earl Percy, and 
Lord Cornwallis, turned short to the right, and 
approached the opposite coast at Flatland. The 
position of the Americans having been recon- 
noitred, Sir William Howe, from the intelli- 
gence given him, determined to attempt to turn 
their left flank. The right wing of his army, 
consisting of a strong advanced corps, com- 
manded by General Clinton, and supported by 
the brigades under Lord Percy, began at nine 
o'clock at night, on the 26th of August, to 
move from Flatland ; and, passing through the 
New Lots, arrived on the road that crosses the 
hills from Bedford to Jamaica. Having taken 
a patrol, they seized the pass, without alarming 
the Americans. At half after eight in the morn- 
ing, the British troops, having passed the heights 



92 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and reached Bedford, began an attack on the 
left of the American army. Tn the centre, 
General De Heister, soon after daylight, had 
begun to cannonade the troops, which occupied 
the direct road to Brooklyn, and which were 
commanded by General Sullivan in person. As 
soon as the firing toward Bedford was heard, 
De Heister advanced and attacked the centre 
of the Americans, who, after a warm engage- 
ment, were routed and driven into the woods. 
The firing toward Bedford giving them the 
alarming notice that the British had turned their 
left flank, and were getting completely into their 
rear, they endeavoured to escape to the camp. 
The sudden rout of this party enabled De Heis- 
ter to detach a part of his force against those 
who were engaged near Bedford. There also 
the Americans were broken and driven into the 
woods ; and the front of the British column, 
led by General Clinton, continuing to move for- 
ward, intercepted and engaged those whom De 
Heister had routed, and drove them back into 
the woods. There they again met the Hessians, 
who drove them back on the British. Thus 
alternately chased and intercepted, some forced 
their way through the enemy to the lines of 



BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 93 

Brooklyn ; several saved themselves in the co- 
verts of the woods ; but a great part of the 
detachment was killed or taken. 

The left column, led by General Grant, ad- 
vancing from the Narrows along the coast, to 
divert the attention of the Americans from the 
principal attack on the right, had about mid- 
night fallen in with Lord Stirling's advanced 
guard, stationed at a strong pass, and compelled 
them to relinquish it. As they were slowly 
retiring, they were met on the summit of the 
hills about break of day by Lord Stirling, who 
had been directed, with the two nearest regi- 
ments, to meet the British on the road leading 
from the Narrows. Lord Stirling having posted 
his men advantageously, a furious cannonade 
commenced on both sides, which continued 
several hours. The firing towards Brooklyn, 
where the fugitives were pursued by the British, 
giving notice to Lord Stirling that the enemy 
had gained his rear, he instantly gave orders 
to retreat across a creek, near the Yellow Mills. 
The more effectually to secure the retreat of 
the main body of the detachment, he deter- 
mined to attack in person a British corps under 
Lord Cornwallis, stationed at a house some- 



94 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

what above the place where he proposed cross- 
ing the creek. With about 400 men, drawn 
out of Smallwood's regiment for that purpose, 
he made a very spirited attack, and brought up 
this small corps several times to the charge, 
with confident expectation of dislodging Lord 
Cornwallis from his post ; but, the force in his 
front increasing, and General Grant now ad- 
vancing on his rear, he was compelled to sur- 
render himself and his brave men prisoners of 
war. This bold attempt, however, gave oppor- 
tunity to a large part of the detachment to cross 
the creek, and effect an escape. 

The enemy encamped in front of the Ame- 
rican lines ; and on the succeeding night broke 
ground within 600 yards of a redoubt on the 
left. In this critical state of the American 
army on Long Island ; in front a numerous 
and victorious enemy with a formidable train 
of artillery ; the fleet indicating an intention to 
force a passage into East River to make some 
attempt on New York ; the troops lying with- 
out shelter from heavy rains, fatigued and dis- 
pirited ; it was determined to withdraw from 
the island ; and this difficult movement was 
effected with great skill and judgment. 



CAPTURE OF ETHAN ALLEN. 95 



CAPTURE OF ETHAN ALLEN. 

" Over with you, boys !" said old Ethan, as 
a boat, crowded with his men, pushed off into 
the St. Lawrence ; " Over with ye, and keep 
quiet, or ye '11 have warm work on't." 

" Ay, ay, Curnell !" was responded from the 
boat as it passed heavily through the water. 
Ethan and the remainder of his band stood 
upon the bank, watching its slow and toilsome 
progress, until it was no longer discernible 
through the darkness of night. The dull sound 
of oars was still heard, coming at intervals 
upon the fitful and gusty night-breeze. 

" Well, boys," said Allen, as the sound died 
away in the distance, " we 've got a devilish 
hard job before us, but we'll just let the red 
coats know we 're the size for it." 

" Sartin, Curnell," returned a six-foot Green 
Mountain Boy at his elbow. " You may de- 
pend on the Varmounters. They war'nt born 
in the woods to be scared at owls — but I tell 
you what, I don't like these ere Canady chaps. 



96 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

I 'd give 'em all for half their number of true- 
blue Varmounters." 

" Indeed you would 1" said a Canadian, 
turning fiercely on the last speaker. " If it 
war'nt for making a rumpus, I 'd learn ye bet- 
ter manners." 

" Come on, and be darn'd to ye,'* said the 
unblenching Vermonter. " I could lick a dozen 
like ye." 

The uplifted arm of the Canadian was struck 
down by the tremendous fist of Allen. " What, 
are ye for fighting ?" he exclaimed ; " ye '11 
have enough of that before morning, and you, 
Mike Hunter," turning to his townsman, " let 
me hear no more of your palavering, or" — and 
he clinched his determination with a terrible 
oath — " I '11 knock you into the river." 

" Well, jist as you say, Curnell," said the 
Vermonter, somewhat mortified at the rebuke 
of his commander, " but hang me if I don't 
think I 'm right, arter all." 

" Silence !" thundered Allen. 

The whole party knew the mood of their 
commander, and an almost breathless silence 
succeeded. In a few moments the sound of 



CAPTURE OF ETHAN ALLEN. 97 

oars was again heard, and a dark object ap- 
peared moving on the river. 

" Who goes there," demanded Ethan ; " friend 
or enemy !" 

" Joe Cady," was the laconic answer. 

" Ay — 'tis the boat," said Ethan ; " make 
yourselves ready, my men, we must all go 
now." 

The boat soon came to land, and Cady, a 
stout, rough-featured fellow, stepped from it 
leisurely. " Have you got a drop of comfort 
for a body?" he inquired, dropping his tobac- 
co quid into the river. 

" Holloa there ! Bring out the rum bottle," 
vociferated Allen. 

He drank long and heartily, and handed it 
to Cady, who in his turn passed it to his com- 
panions. 

" Are ye ready?" demanded Ethan. 

" Ay, ay, sartin !" was the quick response 
of the company, who were exhilarated by the 
draught they had just taken. 

" Tumble in then, all hands," said Allen, 
seating himself in the boat, where he was 
speedily followed by his company. " Off, off 
9 



88 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

with ye," he shouted. " Here 's for Montreal 
or a turf jacket !" 

•' Amen !" was responded from a dozen 
voices, as the loaded boat ploughed deeply into 
the river. A long silence succeeded, broken 
only by an occasional growl from old Ethan. 
He sat at the head of the boat, upright and as 
firm as a pillar, the grim outline of his coun- 
tenance just visible in the star-light. He had 
now leisure to reflect coolly on the hazard of 
his gigantic enterprise, and had the light been 
stronger, his companions might have witnessed 
the struggle of his feelings — the alternate sun- 
shine and shadow which passed over his rugged 
features. 

The boat ground heavily on the shore. Ethan 
and his party left it in silence, and proceeded 
to join their companions. After a few brief 
inquiries, Allen ordered sentinels to be posted 
between his party and the town, with orders to 
intercept all who attempted to pass or repass 
them. By this time the sun was just rising. 
Impatience and anxiety became visible in the 
countenance of Ethan. He strode rapidly back- 
wards and forwards, now cursing such of his 
party as happened to cross his way, and then 



CAPTURE OF ETHAN ALLEN. 99 

starting wildly, as the morning breeze brought 
to his ear the murmur of the distant town, 
where as yet no sign of alarm was visible. 

A solitary individual was now seen stealing 
round the eminence, behind which the party 
were stationed. He proved to be one of their 
companions, who had just returned from the 
other side of the island. 

The long strides of Allen were at once 
checked. " What news from Brown ?" he de- 
manded. 

" He han't come yet," returned the messen- 
ger. 

" Not yet ?" repeated Allen, in a tone in 
which disappointment and rage were blended. 

" No, Curnell, and we've got into a darned 
putty kittle of fish," returned the other ; " them 
plaugy Montrealers will drive us clean into the 
river." 

" Go to the devil, you cursed scare-crow !" 
roared Ethan. " I could handle a regiment of 
'em myself." 

" Yes, you could, I 'spose," said the messen- 
ger, " but I 've heard it said that Brag was a 
good dog, but Holdfast was better." 

It was well for the speaker that this remark 

iLofC.! 



100 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

was unheard by Allen, who had now other ob- 
jects to engage his attention. The quick roll 
of the enemy's drum fixed every eye upon their 
fortress. A moment more, and a column of 
British infantry made their appearance, where 
the Lion of St. George swayed heavily to the 
breeze. 

There was an almost breathless silence 
throughout the little band of adventurers, as 
the firm and disciplined enemy bore down upon 
them, with a movement, rapid but regular. 
Even old Ethan himself seemed paralyzed by 
the suddenness of the spectacle, and without 
issuing a word of command, stood gazing in 
an attitude of defiance upon the imposing array 
before him. 

" To the boats ! to the boats ! there is a thou- 
sand of ( 'em !" rang suddenly from a dozen 
voices. 

" Shut your clam-shells, every man of ye !" 
roared Ethan, brandishing a huge horse-pistol 
— " The man that turns his back on the red- 
coats, shall smell gunpowder." 

This had the desired effect. Every one saw 
the impossibility of crossing the river; and 
yielding to the necessity, made preparation for 



CAPTURE OF ETHAN ALLEN. 101 

an immediate encounter. Each rifle was care- 
fully examined— the rum bottle circulated freely, 
and, after taking a fresh supply of tobacco quids, 
those hardy and ignorant hunters awaited the 
onset of the enemy. 

" Now stand your ground, boys," said Allen, 
as a party of British soldiers moved towards 
them, from the main body, at double quick 
time. 

" Let 'em come on and be darn'd," said a 
tall, resolute young fellow at his side. " Only 
give us the word, Curnell," and he dropped his 
rifle to his eye as he spoke. 

" Fire !" shouted the British officer. 

" O God !" exclaimed the young man, as the 
blaze of the musketry flashed full in his face, 
" I am a dead man !" He staggered — the rifle 
fell from his hands — he dropped dead at the 
feet of his commander. 

The hardy followers of Ethan shrank back 
from the ghastly spectacle. They had been 
sprinkled with the blood of their comrade — 
they had seen, for the first time, the horrible 
struggles of a life extinguished by violence, and 
nothing short of the powerful example of their 
leader could have roused them to resistance. 
9* 



102 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

" Fire and brimstone !" he exclaimed, in a 
voice which sounded in their ears like the com- 
ing on of an earthquake, " Why don't you let 
'em have it?" 

The fire of the enemy was now returned 
with considerable effect, for several were seen 
to stagger and fall. As the number of com- 
batants increased, the field of action was en- 
larged, and every rock and tree and fence be- 
came a citadel. But the party of Allen rapidly 
diminished; several were killed on the spot, 
and others sought safety in flight. 

Old Ethan was left alone. An officer of the 
enemy pressed closely upon him. Both levelled 
and discharged their muskets at the same mo- 
ment, without injury to either ; and Ethan, who 
saw his chance of escape was hopeless, gave 
up his sword to the officer. 

Thus ended the famous expedition of Ethan 
Allen against Montreal. As his companions, 
who had also yielded themselves up as prison- 
ers, passed over the field of action, many a 
rough settler paused to weep over his slaugh- 
tered brethren. There they lay — the young 
and strong-limbed hunters, who but an hour 
before had stood up with the energy of life, 



BATTLE OF TRE.NTON. 10 > 

stretched out on the bloody turf, their features 
rigid and grim in death. Even Allen, stem 
and hardened as he was, gave tokens of sensi- 
bility, and turned from gazing on the ghastly 
victims of his enterprise, to bestow his bitterest 
curses on the enemv. 



BATTLE OF TRENTON. 

Washington divided his troops into throe 
parts, which were to assemble on the banks of 
the Delaware on the night of the 25th of De- 
cember. One of these divisions, led by Gene- 
ral Irvine, was directed to cross the Delaware 
at the Trenton Ferry, and secure the bridge 
below the town, so as to prevent the escape ot 
any part of the enemy by that road. Another 
division, led by General Cadvvallader, was \6 
cross over at Bristol, and carry the post at Bur- 
lington. The third, which was the principal 
division, and consisted of about 2400 continen- 
tal troops, commanded by General Washington 
in person, was to cross at M'Konkey's Ferry, 



104 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

about nine miles above Trenton, and to march 
against the enemy posted at that town. The 
night fixed on for the enterprise was severely- 
cold. A storm of snow, mingled with hail and 
rain, fell in great quantities ; and so much ice 
was made in the river, that the artillery could 
not be got over until three o'clock ; and before 
the troops could take up their line of march, it 
was nearly four. The general, who had hoped 
to throw them all over by twelve o'clock, now 
despaired of surprising the town ; but knowing 
that he could not repass the river without being 
discovered and harassed, he determined, at all 
events, to push forward. He accordingly formed 
his detachment into two divisions, one of which 
was to march by the lower or river road, the 
other, by the upper or Pennington road. As 
the distance to Trenton by these two roads was 
nearly the same, the general, supposing that 
his two divisions would arrive at the place of 
destination about the same time, ordered each 
of them, immediately on forcing the outguards, 
to push directly into the town, that they might 
charge the enemy before they had time to form. 
The upper division, accompanied by the gene- 
ral himself, arrived at the enemy's advanced 



BATTLE OF TRENTON. 105 

post exactly at eight o'clock, and immediately 
drove in the outguards. In three minutes a 
firing from the division, that had taken the river 
road, gave notice to the general of its arrival. 
Colonel Rahl, a very gallant Hessian officer who 
commanded in Trenton, soon formed his main 
body, to meet the assailants ; but at the com- 
mencement of the action he received a mortal 
wound. His troops, at once confused and hard 
pressed, and having already lost their artillery, 
attempted to file off by a road on their right. 
leading to Princeton ; but General Washing- 
ton, perceiving their intention, threw a body of 
troops in their front, which intercepted ai 
sailed them. Finding themselves surrounded, 
they laid down their arms. About 20 of the 
enemy were killed ; and 909, including officers, 
surrendered themselves prisoners of war. The 
number of prisoners was soon increased to 
about 1000, by the addition of those who had 
concealed themselves in houses. Six fie'/J- 
pieces, and 1000 stand of small arms, were 
also taken. Of the Americans, two privates 
only were killed ; two were frozen to death ; 
one officer and three or four privates were 
wounded. General Irvine being prevented by 



106 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

the ice from crossing the Delaware, the lower 
road toward Bordentown remained open ; and 
about 500 of the enemy, stationed in the lower 
end of Trenton, crossing over the bridge in the 
commencement of the action, marched down 
the river to Bordentown. General Cadwaila- 
der was prevented by the same cause from at- 
tacking the post at Burlington. This well- 
judged and successful enterprise revived the 
depressed spirits of the colonists, and produced 
an immediate and happy effect in recruiting the 
American army. 



BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 

General Washington, having secured the 
Hessian prisoners on the Pennsylvania side of 
the Delaware, recrossed the river.two days after 
the action, and took possession of Trenton. 
Generals Mifflin and Cadwallader, who lay at 
Bordentown and Crosswix with 3600 militia, 
were ordered to march up in the night of the 
1st of January, to join the commander-in-chief, 



BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 107 

whose whole effective force, including this ac- 
cession, did not exceed 5000 men. The de- 
tachments of the British army, which had been 
distributed over New Jersey, now assembled at 
Princeton, and were joined by the army from 
Brunswick under Lord Cornwallis. From this 
position the enemy advanced toward Trenton 
in great force, on the morning of the 2d of 
January ; and, after some slight skirmishing 
with troops, detached to harass and delay their 
march, the van of their army reached Trenton 
about four in the afternoon. On their approach, 
General Washington retired across the Assum- 
pinck, a rivulet that runs through the town, and 
by some field-pieces, posted on its opposite banks, 
compelled them, after attempting to cross in 
several places, to fall back out of the reach of 
his guns. The two armies, kindling their fires, 
retained their position on opposite sides of the 
rivulet, and kept up a cannonade until night. 

The situation of the American general was 
at this moment extremely critical. Nothing 
but a stream, in many places fordable, sepa- 
rated his army from an enemy, in every respect 
its superior. If he remained in his present 
position, he was certain of being attacked the 



108 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

next morning, at the hazard of the entire de- 
struction of his little army. If he should re- 
treat over the Delaware, the ice in that river 
not being firm enough to admit a passage upon 
it, there was danger of great loss, perhaps of a 
total defeat ; the Jerseys would be in full pos- 
session of the enemy ; the public mind would 
be depressed ; recruiting would be discouraged ; 
and Philadelphia would be within the reach of 
General Howe. In this extremity, he boldly 
determined to abandon the Delaware, and by a 
circuitous march along the left flank of the ene- 
my, fall into their rear at Princeton. As soon 
as it was dark, the baggage was silently re- 
moved to Burlington : and about one o'clock 
the army, leaving its fires lighted, and the sen- 
tinels on the margin of the creek, decamped 
with perfect secrecy. Its movement was pro- 
videntially favoured by the weather, which had 
previously been so warm and moist, that the 
ground was soft, and the roads were scarcely 
passable ; but, the wind suddenly changing to 
the northwest, the ground was in a short time 
frozen as hard as a pavement. About sunrise, 
two British regiments, that were on their march 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Mawhood to join the 



BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 109 

rear of the British army at Maidenhead, fell in 
with the van of the Americans, conducted by 
General Mercer, and a very sharp action en- 
sued. The advanced party of Americans, com- 
posed chiefly of militia, soon gave way, and 
the few regulars attached to them could not 
maintain their ground. General Mercer, while 
gallantly exerting himself to rally his broken 
troops, received a mortal wound. The British 
rushed forward with fixed bayonets, and drove 
back the Americans. General Washington, 
who followed close in the rear, now led on the 
main body of the army, and attacked the ene- 
my with great spirit. While he exposed him- 
self to their hottest fire, he was so well sup- 
ported by the same troops which had aided him 
a few days before in the victory at Trenton, 
that the British were compelled to give way. 
The 17th regiment, which was in front, forced 
its way through a part of the American troops, 
and reached Maidenhead. The 55th regiment, 
which was in the rear, retreated by the way of 
Hillsborough to Brunswick. General Wash- 
ington pressed forward to Princeton. A party 
of the British that had taken refuge in the col- 
lege, after receiving a few discharges from the 
10 



110 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

American field-pieces, came out and surren- 
dered themselves prisoners of war; but the 
principal part of the regiment that was left 
there, saved itself by a precipitate retreat to 
Brunswick. In this action, upward of 100 of 
the enemy were killed on the spot, and nearly 
300 were taken prisoners. The loss of the 
Americans in killed was somewhat less ; but, 
beside General Mercer, Colonels Haslet and 
Potter, two brave and excellent officers from 
Pennsylvania, Captain Neal of the artillery, 
Captain Fleming, and five other valuable offi- 
cers, were among the slain. 

Lord Cornwallis, discovering at daylight that 
the American army had moved off, broke up 
his camp, and commenced a rapid march to 
Brunswick, and was close in the rear of the 
Americans before they left Princeton. Gene- 
ral Washington retired with his army to Mor- 
ristown. During these movements, many of 
the American soldiers were without shoes ; and 
their naked feet, in marching over the frozen 
ground, were so gashed, as to mark each step 
with blood. There was scarcely a tent in the 
whole army. 



EATTLE OF BRANDYWINE. Ill 



BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE. 

Sir William Howe, having in vain attempt- 
ed to entice or provoke General Washington to 
an engagement, had, in June, retired with his 
army from the Jerseys to Staten Island. After 
keeping the American general in long and per- 
plexing suspense concerning his intended ope- 
rations, he at length sailed from Sandy Hook 
with about 16,000 men; entered Chesapeake 
Bay ; and on the 24th of August arrived at the 
head of Elk river. Generals Grant and Kny- 
phausen having joined him on the 8th of Sep- 
tember with the troops under their command, 
f ie whole army moved onward in two columns 
toward Philadelphia, the possession of which 
was now discovered to be the object of the Bri- 
tish commander. General Washington, who 
regulated his movements by those of the enemy, 
had by this time, with the whole American 
army, excepting the light infantry, which re- 
mained on the lines, taken a position behind 
Red Clay Creek, on the road leading directly 



112 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

from the enemy's camp to Philadelphia. The 
British boldly advanced until they were within 
two miles of the Americans. General Wash- 
ington, on reconnoitering their situation, appre- 
hending their object to be to turn his right, and, 
suddenly crossing the Brandy wine, to seize the 
heights on the north side of that river and cut ofF 
his communication with Philadelphia, changed 
his position early in the night of the 8th of 
September, crossed the Brandywine, and the 
next morning took post behind that river, on 
the height near Chadd's Ford. 

At daybreak on the morning of the eleventh, 
the royal army advanced in two columns, the 
one commanded by Lieutenant-General Kny- 
phausen, and the other by Lord Cornwallis. 
While the first column took the direct road to 
Chadd's Ford, and made a show of passing it 
in front of the main body of the Americans, 
the other moved up on the west side of the 
Brandywine to its fork, crossed both its branches 
about two in the afternoon, and marched down 
on its eastern side with the view of turning the 
right wing of their adversaries. General Wash- 
ington, on receiving intelligence of their ap- 
proach, made the proper disposition to receive 



BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE. 113 

them. The divisions commanded by Sullivan, 
Stirling, and Stephen, advanced a little farther 
up the Brandywine, and fronted the column 
of the approaching enemy ; Wayne's division, 
with Maxwell's light infantry, remained at 
Chadd's Ford, to keep Knyphausen in check ; 
Green's division, accompanied by General 
Washington, formed a reserve, and took a cen- 
tral position between the right and left wings. 
The divisions detached against Cornwallis took 
possession of the heights above Birmingham 
church, their left reaching toward the Brandy- 
wine ; the artillery was judiciously placed, and 
their flanks were covered by woods. About 
four o'clock, Lord Cornwallis formed the line 
of battle, and began the attack. The Ameri- 
cans sustained it for some time with intrepidity ; 
but their right at length giving way, the re- 
maining divisions, exposed to a galling fire on 
the flank, continued to break on the right, and 
the whole line was soon completely routed. As 
soon as Cornwallis had commenced his attack, 
Knyphausen crossed the ford, and attacked the 
troops posted for its defence ; which, after a 
severe conflict, were compelled to give way. The 
retreat of the Americans, which soon became 
10* 



114 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

general, was continued that night to Chester, 
and the next day to Philadelphia. The loss, 
sustained by the Americans in this action, is 
estimated at 300 killed, and 600 wounded. 
Between 300 and 400, principally the wounded, 
were made prisoners. The loss of the British 
was stated to be rather less than 100 killed, and 
400 wounded. As the British were advancing 
toward Goshen to gain the Lancaster road, dis- 
positions were again made for battle, on the 
16th, by both armies; but a heavy rain sepa- 
rated the advanced parties, which had begun 
to skirmish, and its increasing violence soon 
obliged the Americans to retreat. General 
Washington on the 19th crossed the Schuylkill, 
and encamped on the eastern banks of that 
river; while detachments of his army were 
posted at the several fords, over which the ene- 
my would probably attempt to force a passage. 



LA FAYETTE. ] 15 



LA FAYETTE. 



The general was dining with his family cir- 
cle at Alexandria, during his visit to the United 
States in 1825, when the landlord of the hotel 
entered, and whispered to Mr. C. that a very- 
old revolutionary soldier, from Delaware, wish- 
ed to see the general. He was an exceedingly 
old man, had travelled a great way, they had 
given him a dinner, and he awaited an audi- 
ence. " Show him in," was the reply : " the 
general is always at home to his ancient com- 
rades." Respectfully assisted by the landlord, 
the veteran entered the room. " Your servant, 
general ; an old man's blessing be with you. 
They call you old ; but you are quite a boy to 
me. I am ninety-six. You are much altered, 
truly, since I saw you at Brandy wine — ah! 
there was hot work there. T am heartily glad 
to see you. I have travelled all the way from 
Wilmington on foot. Sure, some kind gentle- 
man offered to pay the old fellow's passage in 
the stage; but no — I have always marched, 



116 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and I can march still ; though I am in pretty- 
quick steps to the grave. The sight of you 
brings the remembrance of former times. Do 
you recollect that when a deserter fired at you 
in New Jersey, you, Sergeant Pierce, and I, 
caught the rascal ? Do you remember Jemmy, 
the Rover? poor Jemmy, he was a half-witty 
body and full of his jokes, but he could never 
stand fire. I believe the American army thought 
1 was a man who could. You remember old 
Allen, of Delaware. We were distantly related. 
The McLeans were never famous for turning 
their backs on any enemy." Here La Fayette 
filled a glass of wine, saying, " Drink with me, 
my good friend ; here is your health." The 
veteran took the glass, bowed his acknowledg- 
ments, and attempted to raise it to his lips ; but 
the palsied hand of extreme age, refused to do 
its office. The wine was nearly all spilled ; 
but the little that remained served to warm his 
heart, as though he had quaffed " long and 
deep." The soldier continued : " I am a very 
poor man, and must beg a pair of shoes to set 
me home ; these are worn out in my long jour- 
ney." La Fayette arose, and taking the arm of 
the veteran, hurried him into his chamber and 



BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 11? 

shut the door. They soon returned ; the last 
of the revolutionary generals, whom assem- 
bled senates had risen to honour, supporting the 
poor old soldier of the Revolution. " Farewell, 
my good friend," said he : " may Heaven bless 
you." The McLean would have answered ; his 
lips moved, but gave forth no sound ; his eyes, 
whose lustre nearly a hundred years had dim- 
med, alone spoke the language of his heart. 
All who were present attended him to the door, 
and bade farewell to the hero of ninety-six. 



BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 

General Washington, having been rein- 
forced by 1500 men from Peekskill, and 1000 
from Virginia, and having received intelligence 
through two intercepted letters, that General 
Howe had detached a part of his force for the 
purpose of reducing Billing's-point works and 
the forts on the Delaware, entertained the 
thought of attacking the main body as it lay at 
Germantown. The line of encampment crossed 



118 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the town at right angles about the centre : the 
left wing extended to the Schuylkill. It was 
covered in front by the mounted and dismount- 
ed chasseurs : a battalion of light infantry, and 
the queen's American rangers were in the front 
of the right ; and the 40th regiment, with an- 
other battalion of light infantry, were posted at 
the head of the town, upon Chesnut-Hill road, 
three quarters of a mile in advance. Lord 
Cornwallis lay at Philadelphia with four batta- 
lions of grenadiers. When General Washing- 
ton had communicated to his council of war the 
account he had obtained, the general officers 
unanimously agreed upon an attack, and to its 
being made in general places, to produce the 
greater confusion and distraction, and to hinder 
the several parts of the enemy's forces afford- 
ing support to each other. It was to be sudden 
and vigorous, in expectation of carrying the 
point speedily, from an apprehension that the 
Americans would not persevere in a prolonged 
attack, for want of better discipline and more 
acquaintance with military service. Was it 
found that they could make no impression upon 
the enemy, they were after a while to make an 
expeditious retreat. The divisions of Sullivan 



BATTLE OF GEBMANTOWN. 119 

and Wayne, flanked by Conway's brigade, were 
to enter the town by way of Chesnut Hill ; 
while Armstrong, with the Pennsylvania mili- 
tia, got upon the enemy's left and rear. Colo- 
nel Thomas Conway, Knight of St. Louis, had 
been elected so early as May, a brigadier-gen- 
eral, upon the recommendatory letters he 
brought from France. The divisions of Greene 
and Stephen, flanked by M'Dougall's brigade, 
were to enter by taking a circuit at the market- 
houses, and to attack the right wing ; and the 
militia of Maryland and Jersey, under Gene- 
rals Smallwood and Freeman were to march 
by the old York road, and fall upon the rear 
of the right. Lord Stirling, with Nash's and 
Maxwell's brigades, were to form a corps de 
reserve. 

They began their march about seven o'clock 
in the evening of the 3d of October. General 
Washington is with the divisions of Sullivan 
and Wayne. He expects that if the enemy has 
gained timely intelligence of his march, they 
will wait for him on Chesnut Hill, and receive 
him as he comes out of the woods. When 
arrived on the hill, without any appearance of 
opposition, he is congratulated upon the persua- 



120 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sion that the British will be completely sur- 
prised. About sun-rise on the fourth the attack 
is began on the 40th regiment, and the batta- 
lion of light infantry which accompanies it. 
These corps are overpowered and pursued. In 
this exigence Lieutenant-Colonel Musgrave 
throws himself, with six companies of the 40th 
regiment, into Mr. Chew's stone-house, lying 
full in the front of the Americans. These halt. 
A discourse ensues between Generals Knox and 
Reed, in the presence of the commander-in- 
chief, whether or not to advance without first 
reducing the house. Knox urges that it is con- 
trary to all military rule to leave a fort pos- 
sessed by an enemy in their rear. Reed ex- 
claims — " What ! call this a fort, and lose the 
happy moment !" Conway is inquired after to 
give his judgment, but cannot be found. It is 
agreed to send a flag to the house, and sum- 
mons the British officer to surrender. A young 
person undertakes to carry it. He approaches, 
is fired upon, and killed. Meanwhile, General 
Greene gets up with his column, and attacks 
the right wing of the enemy. The morning 
being exceeding foggy, prevents the Americans 
from fully improving the advantages they gain. 



BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 121 

Colonel Matthews, of Greene's column, attacks 
with uncommon spirit, routes the parties opposed 
to him, kills a great number, and makes 110 
prisoners ; but, through the fog, loses sight of 
the brigade he belongs to, is separated from it, 
and is taken prisoner with his whole regiment, 
accompanied with the release of all whom he 
had captured. A number of Greene's troops 
are stopped, by the halt of the division before 
Chew's house, where near or quite one half of 
General Washington's army remains some time 
inactive. During this inactivity, General Grey, 
bringing the front of a great part of the left 
wing by a timely movement to Germantown, 
leads on three battalions of the third brigade 
and attacks with vigour, being supported by 
General Agnew at the head of the fourth bri- 
gade. A warm engagement ensues. At the 
same time two British regiments attack on the 
opposite side of the town ; while General Grant 
moves up the 49th regiment, to the aid of the 
4th, which is employed in supporting the troops 
engaged with Green's column. The fog is so 
great, that at times you cannot see twenty yards 
before you, and frequently not more than fifty. 
It occasions the American parties mistaking 
11 



122 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

each other For the enemy, and prevents their 
observing the true situation of the latter. Ow- 
ing hereto in a great measure, the Americans 
quit every part of the town ; and when Gene- 
ral Grey, having passed it, advances with the 
British right wing upon their left, they leave 
the field hastily and entirely, in spite of every 
effort that can be made to rally them. Lord 
Cornwallis arrives with a squadron of light 
horse just in season to join in the pursuit. 
Greene with his own and Stephen's division, 
happens to form the last column of the retreat- 
ing Americans. Upon coming to two roads, 
and thinking it will be safest, and may prevent 
the enemy's advancing by either so as to get 
ahead of him ; and that the divisions may aid 
each other upon occasion, he marches one divi- 
sion on the one road, and the second on the 
other. While continuing his retreat, Pulaski's 
cavalry who is in his rear, being fired upon by 
the enemy, ride over the second division, and 
throw them in the utmost disorder, as they 
know not at first but that they are the British 
dragoons. The men run and scatter, and the 
general is apprehensive that he shall lose his 
artillery. He cannot collect a party sufficient 



BATTLE OF GERMA.NTOWN. 123 

to form a rear guard, till he hits upon the de- 
vice of ordering the men to lay hold of each 
other's hands. This answers. He collects a 
number, and by the help of the artillery, brings 
the enemy to give over the pursuit, after having 
continued it near five miles. The Americans 
then proceeded in their march back to Shippach 
Creek without further disturbance. 

The British officers acknowledged soon after 
this affair, that it was the severest blow they 
had met with ; that it was planned with judg- 
ment, and executed with spirit ; and that they 
were at a loss for its not being followed up, 
unless it was for want of ammunition. The 
Americans lost in killed 25 continental officers, 
commissioned and non-commissioned, wound- 
ed 102, and an equal number missing. The 
militia were, 3 killed, 4 wounded, and 11 miss- 
ing. Of rank and file, continentals, 109 were 
killed, and 378 wounded — militia, 7 killed and 
19 wounded. They had artillery officers, 2 
killed and 11 wounded ; and matrosses 6 killed 
and 7 wounded. The total of their killed was 
152 ; and of their wounded 521. Upward of 
400 were made prisoners, among whom were 
54 officers. The number of missing among 



124 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the Americans is no rule by which to judge of 
the number captured by the enemy, as many 
of the missing, who do not return to their co- 
lours, go home. General Nash, of North Caro- 
lina, was among the slain, and will be honoured 
by Congress with a monument, the same as 
other generals who have fallen in action bravely 
contending for the independency of the United 
States. 

The loss of the royal army, including the 
wounded and a few prisoners, amounted by 
their own acknowledgment, to 535 ; but the 
slain scarcely exceeded 70. Among these, 
however, were some distinguished officers, par- 
ticularly General Agnew and Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Bird. They suffered probably more than 
they allowed. The battle, by General Knox's 
watch, held two hours and forty minutes. 

General Washington is of opinion, that the 
Americans retreated at an instant when victory 
was declaring in their favour. The royal army 
was indeed completely surprised ; and appear- 
ances in the beginning were evidently on the 
side of the former. But it is said, that a cer- 
tain colonel, not being sufficiently experienced, 
instead of pressing with fixed bayonet on the 



BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 125 

enemy whom he had driven, kept ordering his 
men, as they advanced, to load and fire, by 
which they expended their ammunition : and 
that, instead of halting on the ground till fur- 
nished afresh, he ordered his regiment to re- 
treat. This retrograde manosuvre enabled and 
encouraged the enemy to recover themselves, 
while the other Americans, who were advanc- 
ing, were disheartened and disconcerted by the 
retreating regiment, not knowing the occasion 
of such retreat. It is admitted, however, that 
the colonel behaved boldly, by keeping himself 
in the rear next to the enemy. General Ste- 
phen was guilty of unofficer-like behaviour in 
the retreat, owing to inattention or want of 
judgment ; which might occasion a whisper to 
be circulated unfavourable to General Greene. 
But upon General Reed's asking the command- 
er-in-chief whether he was dissatisfied with 
Greene's conduct, he candidly answered " No, 
not at all ; the fault lay with ourselves ;" refer- 
ring to the column with which he was, and 
their stopping to attack Chew's stone house. 
Several causes might co-operate to effect the 
precipitous retreat of the American army. And 
yet had that column advanced without delay, 
11* 



126 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

leaving only a sufficient corps with a couple of 
field-pieces to guard the house, the obstacles to 
success that afterward offered, might have been 
removed or prevented, and Howe's army have 
been totally defeated, unless the superiority of 
their discipline and bravery could have hin- 
dered. 



GENERAL WAYNE'S WAR-HORSE. 

At the battle of Germantown, General 
Wayne rode his gallant roan ; and in charging 
the enemy, his horse received a wound in his 
head, and fell, as was supposed, dead. Two 
days after, the roan returned to the American 
camp, noi materially injured, ; and was again 
fit for servic?. 



BATTLE OF BENNINGTON. 127 



BATTLE OF BENNINGTON. 

General Burgoyne's progress toward Al- 
bany was delayed through the want of a speedy 
and sufficient supply of provisions. He con- 
sidered in what way the difficulty was to be 
surmounted. According to information, the 
Americans had a great deposit of corn, flour, 
and store cattle at Bennington, which was 
guarded only by militia. Every day's account 
confirmed the persuasion of the loyalty of one 
e description of the inhabitants in that part of the 
country, and of the panic of the other. He 
therefore entertained the design of surprising 
the stores at Bennington, and of sending a very 
large detachment upon the expedition ; but was 
diverted from the latter (as supposed) by Major 
Skeen, who assured him, " The friends to the 
British cause are as five to one, and they want 
only the appearance of a protecting power to 
show themselves." Relying upon their attach- 
ment, the general sent the German Lieutenant- 
Colonel Baum, with only about 500 men, and 



128 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

100 Indians, who carried with them two light 
pieces of artillery. To facilitate the operation 
the army moved along the east shore of Hud- 
son river, and encamped nearly opposite to 
Saratoga ; and a bridge of rafts being thrown 
over, the advance corps passed to that place. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Brey man's corps, consisting 
of the Brunswick grenadiers, light infantry, 
and chasseurs, were posted at Batten-kill, in 
order if necessary to support Baum. Stark, 
hearing that a party of Indians was at Cam- 
bridge, sent Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg with 200 
men to stop their progress. Toward night he 
was informed by express, that there was a large 
body of regulars in the rear of the Indians. 
On that he drew together his brigade, and the 
militia who were at hand, in order to stop their 
march ; sent to Manchester for Colonel War- 
ner's regiment, and forwarded expresses to the 
neighbouring militia to join him with all speed. 
He then marched, in the morning of the 14th, 
with Colonels Warner, Williams, and Brush, 
and the men present, and in about seven miles 
met Gregg retreating, and the enemy within a 
mile of him. The troops drew up in order of 
battle; and the enemy, upon coming in sight, 



BATTLE OF BENNINGTON. 129 

halted upon a very advantageous piece of 
ground. Baum perceiving that the Americans 
were too strong to be attacked by his present 
force, sent an express to Burgoyne with an ac- 
count of his situation ; and Breyman was im- 
mediately despatched to reinforce him. Mean- 
while small parties of the Americans skirmished 
with the enemy, killed and wounded 30 of them, 
with two Indian chiefs, without any loss to 
themselves, which had a good effect upon their 
courage. The ground Stark occupied not be- 
ing suitable for a general action, he retreated 
about a mile and encamped. In a council of 
war, it was agreed to send two detachments 
into the enemy's rear, while the rest of the 
troops attacked in front. 

On the 15th of August it rained all day, 
which retarded the intended assault ; however 
there were frequent skirmishings in small par- 
ties. The heavy rain, together with the bad- 
ness of the roads, prevented also Breyman's 
advancing to Baum's assistance with despatch. 
The next day, August 16th, Stark being joined 
in the morning by Colonel Seymonds, from 
Berkshire, pursued his plan. Baum, in the 
meanwhile, had entrenched and rendered his 



130 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

post as defensible as time and its nature would 
permit. Gen. Stark detached Nichols with 
his force to the rear of his left : Colonel Hen- 
rick, with 300 men, was sent to the rear of his 
right: they were to join, and then attack. 
Warner, Hubard and Stickney, with 200, were 
posted still further on his right. A hundred 
men were also advanced toward his front to 
draw his attention that way. About three 
o'clock in the afternoon all were ready for the 
attack. Before Nichols and Henrick could join, 
the Indians pushed off between the two corps, 
but receiving a fire as they passed, had three 
killed and two wounded. Nichols then began 
the assault upon Baum, and was followed by 
the rest ; those in front pushing forward. In 
a few minutes the action became general, and 
lasted about two hours, with one continued 
noise like the ruffling of a drum. Baum made 
a brave defence ; and the German dragoons 
kept together after having expended their am- 
munition, and led by their colonel charged with 
their swords, but were soon overpowered. The 
whole detachment, though well enclosed by two 
breast-works, were forced to give way to the 
superior number and courage of the Americans, 



BATTLE OF BENNINGTON. 131 

who with their brown firelocks, scarce a bayo- 
net, little discipline, and not a single piece of 
cannon, ventured to attack 500 well-trained 
regulars, furnished with the best and completest 
arms and accoutrements, having two pieces of 
artillery, being advantageously posted, and ac- 
companied by 100 Indians. When the militia 
had gained the victory, they dispersed to collect 
plunder, which they were very desirous of se- 
curing. This nearly proved fatal to them. 
While thus busied, Stark received information, 
that the reinforcement under Breyman was 
within two miles of him. Happily, at that 
instant, Warner's continental regiment, which 
had been sent for from Manchester, came up 
fresh, marched on, and began to engage ; mean- 
while the militia collected as fast as possible, 
and pushed on to its assistance. The action 
became general ; and the battle continued ob- 
stinate on both sides till sunset ; when the Ger- 
mans gave way, partly through a failure of 
ammunition, leaving their two pieces of artil- 
lery behind them, and a number of prisoners. 
They retreated in the best manner they could, 
improving the advantage of the evening and of 
the night. 



132 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The Americans took four brass field-pieces, 
twelve brass drums, two hundred and fifty dra- 
goon swords, four ammunition wagons, and 
about 700 prisoners, among whom was Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Baum. Three hundred dead are said 
to have been found upon the spot : but if so, 
surely the slain on each side must have been 
included. The Americans lost but about 100 
killed and wounded. The courage of the men 
was sharpened by the prospect of advantage, 
for in General Stark's orders they were pro- 
mised all the plunder that should be taken in 
the enemy's camp. The royal officers were 
astonished to see how undauntedly they rushed 
on the mouths of the cannon. Both men and 
officers are entitled to much honour for their 
gallant behaviour. Colonels Warner and Hen- 
rick's superior skill in military matters was of 
service to the general, who was less conversant 
with them than they ; but his rank in the army 
of the United States was afterward given him 
by Congress, on the 4th of October, when they 
" Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be 
presented to General Stark, of the New Hamp- 
shire militia, and the officers and troops undei 
his command, for their brave and successful 



REV. THOMAS ALLEN. 133 

attack upon, and signal victory over the enemy 
in their lines at Bennington ; and that Brigadier 
Stark be appointed a brigadier-general in the 
army of the United States." Never were 
thanks more deservedly bestowed. This was 
the first turn of affairs in favour of the Ameri- 
cans in the northern department after the death 
of General Montgomery. It raised the spirits 
of the country, and made the militia willing to 
turn out beyond what would otherwise have 
been done. 



REV. THOMAS ALLEN. 

Rev. Thomas Allen was the first minister 
of Pittsfield. When the American Revolution 
commenced, he, like the great body of the cler- 
gy, ardently espoused the cause of the oppressed 
colonies, and bore his testimony against the 
oppression of the mother country. When, in 
anticipation of the conflict which finally took 
place at Bennington, the neighbouring country 
was roused to arms, he used his influence to 
increase the band of patriots, by exciting his 
12 



134: STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

townsmen to proceed to the battle ground. A 
company was raised in his parish and proceed- 
ed. Some causes, however, were found to re- 
tard their progress on the way. Hearing of the 
delay, he proceeded immediately to join them, 
by his influence quickened their march, and 
soon presented them to General Stark. Learn- 
ing from him that he meditated an attack on 
the enemy, he said he would fight, but could 
not willingly bear arms against them, until he 
had invited them to submit. He was insensible 
to fear, and accordingly proceeded so near as 
to make himself distinctly heard in their camp, 
where, after taking a stand on a convenient 
eminence, he commenced his pious exhortations, 
urging them to lay down their arms. He was 
answered by a volley of musketry, which lodged 
their com nts in the log on which he stood. 
Turning inly to a friend who had followed 
him undej cover of the breast- work which 
formed his <*>otstool, he said — "Now give me 
a gun ;" ai d this is said to be the first American 
gun that spoke on that memorable occasion. 
He continued to bear his part till the battle was 
decided in favour of the American arms, and 
contributed honourably to that result. 



BATTLE OF SARATOGA. 135 



BATTLE OF SARATOGA. 

After collecting thirty days' provision Bur- 
goyne passed the Hudson, and encamped at 
Saratoga. Gates, with numbers already equal, 
and continually augmenting, began to advance 
towards him with a resolution to oppose his 
progress at the risk of a battle. He encamped 
at Stillwater, and Burgoyne hastened forward 
to open the way with his sword. On the 17th 
of September the two armies were within four 
miles of each other. Two days after, skirm- 
ishes between advanced parties terminated in 
an engagement almost general, in which the 
utmost efforts of the British merely enabled 
them to maintain the footing of the preceding 
day. 

Burgoyne, unassisted by the British forces 
under Clinton at New York, found himself un- 
able to pursue his march down the river, and 
in the hope of this assistance, was content to 
remain in his camp, and stand on the defensive. 
His army was likewise diminished by the de- 



136 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sertion of the Indians and the Canadian militia, 
to less than one half of its original number. 
Gates finding his forces largely increasing, be- 
ing plentifully supplied with provisions, and 
knowing that Burgoyne had only a limited 
store, which was rapidly lessening, and could 
not be recruited, was not without hopes that 
victory would come, in time, even without a 
battle. His troops were so numerous, and his 
fortified position so strong, that he was able to 
take measures for preventing the retreat of the 
enemy, by occupying the strong posts in his 
rear. Accordingly nineteen days passed with- 
out any further operations, a delay as ruinous 
to one party, as it was advantageous to the 
other. At the end of this period, the British 
general found his prospects of assistance as 
remote as ever, and the consumption of his 
stores so alarming, that retreat or victory be- 
came unavoidable alternatives. 

On the 8th of October a warm action ensued, 
in which the British were everywhere repulsed, 
and a part of their lines occupied by their ene- 
mies. Burgoyne's loss was very considerable 
in killed, wounded, and prisoners, while the 
favourable situation of Gates's army made its 



BATTLE OF SARATOGA. 137 

losses in the battle of no moment. Burgoyne 
retired in the night to a stronger camp, but the 
measures immediately taken by Gates, to cut 
off his retreat, compelled him without delay to 
regain his former camp at Saratoga. There 
he arrived with little molestation from his ad- 
versary. His provisions being now reduced to 
the supply of a few days, the transport of ar- 
tillery and baggage towards Canada being ren- 
dered impracticable by the judicious measures 
of his adversary, the British general resolved 
upon a rapid retreat, merely with what the sol- 
diers could carry on their backs. 

On a careful scrutiny, however, it was found 
that they were deprived even of this resource, 
as the passes through which their route lay 
were so strongly guarded that nothing but ar- 
tillery could clear them. In this desperate situ- 
ation a parley took place, and on the 16th of 
October the whole army surrendered to Gates. 
The prize obtained consisted of more than five 
thousand prisoners, some fine artillery, seven 
thousand muskets, clothing for seven thousand 
men, with a great quantity of tents, and other 
military stores. All the frontier fortresses were 
immediately abandoned to the victors. 
12* 



138 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

It is not easy to overrate the importance of 
this success. It may be considered as deciding 
the war of the Revolution, as from that period 
the British cause began rapidly to decline. The 
capture of Cornwallis was not of more import- 
ance than that of Burgoyne, nor was it in itself 
an event of greater splendour, or productive 
of more exultation. 



PUTNAM'S FEAT. 

About the middle of winter, while General 
Putnam was on a visit to his out-post at Horse- 
Neck, he found Governor Tryon advancing 
upon that town with a corps of fifteen hundred 
men. To oppose these General Putnam had 
only a picquet of one hundred and fifty men, 
and two iron field-pieces, without horses or 
drag- ropes. He, however, planted his cannon 
on the high ground, by the meeting-house, and 
retarded their approach by firing several times, 
until, perceiving the horse (supported by the 
infantry) about to charge, he ordered the pic- 



pctnam's fevt. 1*39 

quet to provide for their safety, by retiring to a 
swamp inaccessible to horse, and secured his 
own by plunging down the steep precipice at 
the church upon a full trot. This precipice is 
so steep, where he descended, as to have artifi- 
cial stairs, composed of nearly one hundred 
stone steps, for the accommodation of foot pas- 
sengers. There the dragoons, who were but a 
sword's length from him, stopped short ; for the 
declivity was so abrupt that they ventured not 
to follow ; and, before they could gain the val- 
ley, by going round the brow of the hill in the 
ordinary road, he was far enough beyond their 
reach. He continued his route, unmolested, to 
Stanford ; from whence, having strengthened 
his picquet by the junction of some militia, he 
came back again, and, in turn, pursued Gover- 
nor Tryon in his retreat. As he rode down the 
precipice, one ball, of the many fired at him, 
went through his beaver : but Governor Tryon, 
by way of compensation for spoiling his hat, 
sent him, soon afterwards, as a present, a com- 
plete suit of clothes. 



140 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH COURT-HOUSE. 

General Washington, hearing that the 
enemy were on their march in the direction of 
Monmouth Court-House, despatched Brigadier- 
General Wayne with a farther detachment of 
1000 select men to strengthen the forces on the 
lines. The continental troops, now in front of 
the main army, amounting to at least 4000 
men, General Washington sent the Marquis de 
La Fayette to take command of them, and soon 
after, General Lee, who with two additional bri- 
gades joined the front division, which was now 
under his direction, and encamped at English- 
town, a few miles in the rear of the British 
army. A corps of 600 men, under Colonel 
Morgan, hovered on the right flank of the Bri- 
tish ; and 800 of the Jersey militia, under Gen- 
eral Dickenson, were on the left. General 
Washington with the main body of the Ameri- 
can army encamped about three miles in the 
rear of his advanced corps. Such was the dis- 
position of the two armies on the evening of the 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH COLRT-HOTSE. 141 

27th of June, 1778. About twelve miles in 
front of the British, the high grounds about 
Middletown would afford them a position, which 
would effectually secure them from the impres- 
sion of the Americans. General Washington 
determined to risk an attack on their rear be- 
fore they should reach those heights. General 
Lee was accordingly ordered to make his dis- 
positions for the attack, and to keep his troops 
constantly lying on their arms, that he might 
take advantage of the first movement of the 
enemy ; and corresponding orders were given 
to the rear division of the army. 

The British army marched in two divisions, 
the van commanded by General Knyphausen, 
and the rear by Lord Cornwall is ; but the Bri- 
tish commander-in-chief, judging that the de- 
sign of the American general was to make an 
attempt on his baggage, put it under the care 
of General Knyphausen, that the rear division, 
consisting of the flower of the British army, 
might be ready to act with vigour. This ar- 
rangement being made, General Knyphausen's 
division marched, in pursuance of orders, at 
break of day on the 28th of June ; but the 
other division, under Lord Cornwallis, attended 



142 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

by the commander-in-chief, did not move until 
eight, that it might not press too closely on the 
baggage. General Lee appeared on the heights 
of Freehold soon after the British had left them ; 
and, following them into the plain, made dispo- 
sitions for intercepting their covering party in 
the rear. While he was advancing to the front 
of a wood adjoining the plain, to reconnoitre 
the enemy in person Sir Henry Clinton was 
marching back his whole rear division to attack 
the Americans. Lee now perceived that lie had 
mistaken the force, which formed the rear of 
the British ; but he stbll proposed to engage on 
that ground. While both armies were prepar- 
ing for action, General Scott, mistaking an 
oblique- march of an American column for a 
retreat, left his position, and repassed a morass 
in his rear. Lee, dissatisfied with the ground 
on which the army was drawn up, did not cor- 
rect the error of Scott ; but directed the whole 
detachment to repass the morass, and regain 
the heights. During this retrograde movement, 
the rear of the army, which at the first firing 
had thrown off their packs and advanced ra- 
pidly to the support of the front, approached 
the scene of action ; and General Washington, 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH COURT-HOUSE. 143 

riding forward, met the advanced corps, to his 
extreme mortification and astonishment, retiring 
before the enemy. On coming up to Lee, he 
spoke to him in terms of disapprobation ; but, 
though warm, he lost not for a moment that 
self-command, than which at so critical a mo- 
ment nothing could be more essential to the 
command of others. He instantly ordered Col- 
onel Stewart's and Lieutenant-Colonel Ramsay's 
battalions to form on a piece of ground, which 
he judged suitable for giving a check to the ene- 
my ; and, having directed General Lee to take 
proper measures with the residue of his force 
to stop the British columns on that ground, he 
rode back himself to arrange the rear division 
of the army. His orders were executed with 
firmness. A sharp conflict ensued ; and though 
Lee was forced from the ground on which he 
had been placed, he brought off his troops in 
good order, and was then directed to form in 
the rear of Englishtown. The check, which 
he had given to the enemy, procured time to 
make a disposition of the left wing and second 
line of the American army, in the wood and 
on the eminence to which Lee was retreating. 
Lord Stirling, who commanded the left wing, 



144 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

placed some cannon on the eminence, which, 
with the co-operation of some parties of infan- 
try, effectually stopped the advance of the Bri- 
tish in that quarter. The enemy attempted to 
turn the left flank of the Americans, but were 
repulsed. They also made a movement to the 
right, but were there repelled by General Greene, 
who had taken a very advantageous position. 
Wayne, advancing with a body of troops, kept 
up so severe and well-directed a fire, that the 
British soon gave way, and took the position 
which Lee had before occupied, where the ac- 
tion commenced immediately after the arrival 
of General Washington. Here the British line 
was formed on very strong ground. Both flanks 
were secured by the woods and morasses, and 
their front could only be reached through a nar- 
row pass. The day had been intensely hot ; 
and the troops were greatly fatigued ; yet Gen- 
eral Washington resolved to renew the engage- 
ment. He ordered Brigadier-General Poor with 
his own and the Carolina brigade to gain the 
enemy's right flank, while Woolford with his 
brigade should turn their left. The artillery 
was ordered at the same time to advance and 
play on them in front. These orders were 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH COURT-HOUSE. 145 

promptly obeyed; but there were so many im- 
pediments to be overcome, that before the at- 
tack could be commenced, it was nearly dark. 
It was therefore thought most advisable to post- 
pone farther operations until morning ; and the 
troops lay on their arms in the field of battle. 
General Washington, who had been exceedingly 
active through the day, and entirely regardless 
of personal danger, reposed himself at night in 
his cloak, under a tree, in the midst of his sol- 
diers. His intention of renewing the battle 
was frustrated. The British troops marched 
away about midnight in such profound silence, 
that the most advanced posts, and those very 
near, knew nothing of their departure until 
morning. The American general, declining 
all farther pursuit of the royal army, detached 
some light troops to attend its motions, and 
drew off his forces to the borders of the North 
River. Sir Henry Clinton, after remaining a 
few days on the high grounds of Middletown, 
proceeded to Sandy Hook, whence he passed 
his army over to New York. 

The loss of the Americans in this battle was 
8 officers and 61 privates killed, and about 160 
wounded. Among the slain, and much regret- 
13 



14G STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ted, were Lieutenant-Colonel Bonner, of Penn- 
sylvania, and Major Dickenson, of Virginia. 
The loss of the British army, in killed, wound- 
ed, and missing, is stated to have been 358 
men, including officers. Among their slain 
was Lieutenant-Colonel Monckton, who was 
greatly and deservedly lamented. About 100 
were taken prisoners ; and nearly 1000 soldiers, 
principally foreigners, many of whom had mar- 
ried in Philadelphia, deserted the British stand- 
ard during the march. 

Both parties claimed the victory in the battle 
of Monmouth. It is allowed, that in the early 
part of the day, the British had the advantage, 
but it is also contended, that in the latter 
part, it was on the side of the Americans ; for 
" they maintained their ground ; repulsed the 
enemy by whom they were attacked ; were pre- 
vented only by the night and the retreat of Sir 
Henry Clinton from renewing the action ; and 
suffered in killed and wounded less than their 
adversaries." 



GENERAL LEE. 147 



GENERAL LEE. 



General Lee was remarkably slovenly in 
his dress and manners ; and has often, by the 
meanness of his appearance, been subject to 
ridicule and insult. He was once attended by 
General Washington to a place distant from 
the camp. Riding on, he arrived at the house 
where they were to dine, sometime before the 
rest of the company. He went directly to the 
kitchen, demanding something to eat, when the 
cook, taking him for a servant, told him she 
would give him some victuals in a moment — 
but he must help her off with the pot. This 
he complied with, and set down to some cold 
meat, which she had placed before him on the 
dresser. The girl was remarkably inquisitive 
about the guests who were coming, particularly 
of Lee, who she said she had heard was one 
of the oddest and ugliest men in the world. In 
a few moments, she desired the general again 
to assist her in placing on the pot, and scarcely 
had he finished, when she requested him to take 



148 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

a bucket and go to the well. Lee made no 
objections, and began drawing water. In the 
meantime, General Washington arrived, and 
an aid-de-camp was despatched in search of 
Lee ; whom to his surprise, he found engaged 
as above. But what was the confusion of the 
poor girl on hearing the aid-de-camp address 
the man with the title of general. The mug 
fell from her hands, and dropping on her knees, 
she began crying for pardon ; when Lee, who 
was ever ready to see the impropriety of his 
own conduct, but never willing to change it, 
gave her a crown, and turning to his aid-de- 
camp, observed, " You see, young man, the 
advantage of a fine coat — the man of conse- 
quence is indebted to it for respect — neither vir- 
tue nor abilities without it, will make you look 
like a gentleman." 



RHODE ISLAND. 149 



RHODE ISLAND. . 

The British army in Rhode Island, consist- 
ing of about 6000 men, commanded by Major- 
General Sir Robert Pigott, lay principally at 
Newport. The American army, consisting of 
about 10,000 men, commanded by Major-Gen- 
eral Sullivan, lay on the main, about the town 
of Providence. Soon after the arrival of the 
British fleet, a plan of attack on the town of 
Newport was concerted between- General Sulli- 
van and Count D'Estaing. The fleet was to 
enter the harbour, and land the troops of his 
Christian majesty on the west side of the island, 
a little to the north of Dyer's Island ; and the 
Americans were to land at the same time on the 
opposite coast, under cover of the guns of a 
frigate. On the 8th of August, General Sulli- 
van joined General Greene at Tiverton, to 
which place, lying on the east side of the east 
channel, this general had marched a detach- 
ment of continental troops with some militia ; 
and it was agreed, that the fleet should enter 
13* 



150 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the main channel immediately, and that the de- 
scent should be made the next day. The ships 
of war entered the channel accordingly, but, the 
militia not arriving precisely at the expected 
time, General Sullivan stated to the count the 
necessity of postponing the attack. The next 
day, Lord Howe, who had sailed from New 
York for the relief of Newport, appeared in 
sight ; and D'Estaing the morning after went 
out of the harbour determined to give him bat- 
tle. The French fleet having the weather-gage, 
Lord Howe weighed anchor and put out to sea. 
D'Estaing followed him ; and both fleets were 
soon out of sight. 

On the morning of the 9th, General Sullivan, 
discovering that the British troops at the north 
end of the island had been recalled in the night 
into the lines at Newport, determined to take 
immediate possession of the works, which had 
been abandoned. In conformity to this deter- 
mination, the whole army immediately crossed 
the east passage, and landed on the north end 
of Rhode Island. On the 14th, the army moved 
toward the lines, and encamped between two 
and three miles from the town of Newport ; 



RHODE ISLAND. 151 

and the next morning commenced the siege of 
the place. 

The two admirals, after manoeuvring two 
days without coming to action, were separated 
by a violent storm ; and it was not until the 
evening of the 19th, that the French fleet made 
its reappearance. Instead, however, of the ex- 
pected co-operation in the siege, the fleet sailed 
on the 22d for Boston to refit, to the extreme 
dissatisfaction of the Americans. The militia, 
thus deserted by their allies, on whose co-ope- 
ration much dependence had been placed, went 
home in great numbers ; and General Sullivan 
soon found it expedient to raise the siege. Hav- 
ing, on the 26th, sent off his heavy artillery 
and baggage, he, on the night of ihe 28th, re- 
treated from his lines. Very eany ihe next 
morning, the enemy, discovering his retreat, 
followed in two columns ; and the whole day 
was spent in skirmishes between them and co- 
vering parties of the Americans, which succes- 
sively fell back on the main body of the army. 
This was now encamped in a commanding situ- 
ation at the north end of the island, and, on the 
approach of the enemy, it drew up in order of 
battle. The British formed on Quaker Hill, 



152 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

about a mile in front of the American line. 
Sullivan's rear was' covered by strong works, 
and in his front, somewhat to the right, was a 
redoubt. A cannonade and skirmishes having 
mutually been kept up until about two o'clock, 
the enemy, then advancing in force, attempted 
to turn the right flank, and made demonstra- 
tions of an intention to dislodge General Greene, 
who commanded the right wing, from the re- 
doubt in its front. Four regular regiments were 
moved forward to meet them, and General 
Greene advanced with two other regiments of 
continental troops, and Lovell's brigade of mili- 
tia. Colonel Livingston's regiment was ordered 
to reinforce the right. After a very sharp and 
obstinate engagement of half an hour, the ene- 
my gave way, and retreated to Quaker Hill. 
The loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, 
and missing, was 211. The loss of the enemy 
is stated to have been 260. 

The day after the action, a cannonade was 
kept up by both armies. A letter was now re- 
ceived by General Sullivan from General Wash- 
ington, informing him that a large body of troops 
had sailed from New York, most probably for 
the relief of Newport : and a resolution was 



ANECDOTE OF A NEGRO BOY. 153 

immediately formed to evacuate the island. 
This movement was effected with great judg- 
ment, and entire success. General Sullivan, 
while making every show of an intention to 
resist the enemy and maintain his ground, pass- 
ed his army over, by the way of Bristol and 
Howland ferries, on the night of the 30th, to 
the continent. It was a remarkable escape. 
The delay of a single day would probably have 
been fatal to the Americans; for Sir Henry 
Clinton, who had been delayed by adverse 
winds, arrived with a reinforcement of 4000 
men the very next day, when a retreat, it is 
presumed, would have been impracticable. 



ANECDOTE OF A NEGRO BOY. 

When the Count D'Estaing's fleet appeared 
near the British batteries, in the harbour of 
Rhode Island, a severe cannonade was com- 
menced, and several shot passed through the 
houses in town, and occasioned great conster- 
nation among the inhabitants. A shot passed 



154 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

through the door of Mrs. Mason's house just 
above the floor. The family were alarmed, not 
knowing where to flee for safety. A negro 
man ran and sat himself down very composedly, 
with his back against the shot-hole in the door ; 
and being asked by young Mr. Mason why he 
chose that situation, he replied, " Massa, you 
never know two bullet go in one place." 



SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. 

After the conquest of Grenada, in the sum- 
mer of 1779, Count D'Estaing, with the force 
under his command, retired to Cape Francois. 
Letters from Governor Rutledge and Monsieur 
Plombard, the Consul of France in Charleston, 
were received at that place by the victorious 
French admiral. In all of these a speedy visit 
to the coast of the American continent was re- 
commended, and by some of them he was in- 
formed that Savannah might be taken by a coup- 
de-main, and that, on his arrival, he would find 
everything ready for an assault. This invita- 



SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. 155 

tion coinciding with the instructions he had 
received from the King, his master, to act in 
concert with the forces of the United States 
whensoever an occasion should present, itself, 
he sailed for the American continent, and ar- 
rived early in September with a fleet consisting 
of twenty sail of the line, two of fifty guns, 
and eleven frigates. As soon as his arrival on 
the coast was known, General Lincoln, with 
the army under his command, marched for Sa- 
vannah ; and orders were issued for the militia 
of South Carolina and Georgia to rendezvous 
immediately near the same place. The British 
were equally diligent in preparing for their de- 
fence. Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, who had a 
small command at Sunbury, and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Maitland, who was in force at Beaufort, 
were ordered to repair to Savannah. As the 
French frigates approached the bar, the Fowey 
and Rose, of twenty guns each, the Keppel and 
Germain armed vessels, retired towards the 
town. The battery on Tybee was destroyed. 
To prevent the French ships from coming too 
near the town, the Rose and Savannah armed 
ships, with four transports, were sunk in the 
channel. A boom was laid across it, and seve- 



156 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ral small vessels were also sunk above the town. 
The seamen were appointed to the different bat- 
teries. The marines were incorporated with 
the grenadiers of the 60th regiment, and great 
numbers employed bolji by day and night in 
strengthening and extending the lines of de- 
fence. Count D'Estaing made repeated decla- 
rations, that he could not remain more than ten 
or fifteen days on shore. Nevertheless the fall 
of Savannah was considered as infallibly cer- 
tain. It was generally believed that in a few 
days the British would be stripped of all their 
southern possessions. Flushed with these ro- 
mantic hopes, the militia turned out with a read- 
iness that far surpassed their exertions in the 
preceding campaign. Every aid was given 
from Charleston by sending small vessels to 
assist the French in their landing ; but, as the 
large ships of Count D'Estaing could not come 
near the shore, this was not' effected till the 12th 
of September. On the 16th, Savannah was 
summoned to surrender to the arms of France. 
This was urged by the loyalists as an argument 
of the intentions of the French to conquer for 
themselves. The true reason was, that the 
American army had not then come up. It 



SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. 157 

would have been therefore absurd for a French 
officer to demand the surrender of a town to 
an absent commander. The garrison requested 
twenty-four hours to consider of an answer. 
This request was made with a view of gaining 
time for the detachment at Beaufort, command- 
ed by Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland, to join the 
royal army in Savannah. An enterprise was 
undertaken to prevent this junction, but it proved 
unsuccessful. The pilots would not undertake 
to conduct to a proper station the frigates des- 
tined to intercept the communication. Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Maitland availed himself of this 
circumstance, pushed through by Dawfuskies, 
dragged his boats through a gut, and joined 
General Prevost before the time granted for pre- 
paring an answer to Count D'Estaing's sum- 
mons had elapsed. The arrival of such a re- 
inforcement, and especially of the brave Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Maitland, determined the garri- 
son to risk an assault. The French and Ame- 
ricans, who formed a junction the evening after, 
were therefore reduced to the necessity of storm- 
ing, or of besieging the garrison. The resolu- 
tion of proceeding by siege being adopted, the 
attention of the combined armies was immedi- 
14 



158 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ately called to the landing of cannon, and the 
erecting of batteries. The distance of the fleet 
from the landing-place, together with the want 
of proper carriages to transport the cannon and 
stores from Thunderbolt to Savannah, a dis- 
tance of five miles, consumed a great deal of 
time. The works of the town were every day 
perfecting by the labour of several hundred 
negroes, directed by that able engineer Major 
MoncriefF. On the evening of the 23d the 
French and Americans broke ground, and on 
the 24th Major Graham, with a small party of 
the besieged, sallied out on the French troops, 
but he was soon repulsed. The pursuit was 
continued so near to the British entrenchments, 
that the French, on their return, were exposed 
to a heavy fire, by which many of them fell. 
On the night of the 27th Major M'Arthur, with 
a party of the British pickets, advanced and 
fired among the besiegers. This was conducted 
so artfully as to occasion a firing between the 
French and American camps. On the 4th of 
October the besiegers opened with nine mortars, 
thirty-seven pieces of cannon from the land- 
side, and sixteen from the water. These con- 
tinued to play with short intervals for four or 



SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. 159 

five days, but without any considerable effect. 
On the 8th, in the morning, Major L'Enfant, 
with five men, marched through a brisk fire 
from the British lines, and kindled their abba- 
tis ; but the dampness of the air, and the mois- 
ture of the green wood, prevented the success 
of this bold undertaking. 

Soon after the commencement of the cannon- 
ade, General Prevost solicited for leave to send 
the women and children out of town. This 
humane request was, from motives of policy, 
refused. The combined army was so confident 
of success, that it was suspected a desire of 
secreting the plunder lately taken from the in- 
habitants of South Carolina, was a considera- 
ble object covered under the specious veil of 
humanity. It was also presumed that a refusal 
would expedite a surrender. The period being 
now long since elapsed which the count had 
assigned for his expedition, and the engineers 
informing him that more time must be spent if 
he expected to reduce the garrison by regular 
approaches, it was determined to make an as- 
sault. This measure was forced on Count 
D'Estaing by his marine officers, who had re- 
monstrated against his continuing to risk so 



160 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

valuable a fleet, in its present unrepaired con- 
dition, on such a dangerous coast in the hurri- 
cane season, and at so great a distance from 
the shore, that it might be surprised by a Bri 
tish fleet. These remonstrances were enforced 
by the probability of their being attacked by a 
British fleet completely repaired, and with their 
full complement of men, soldiers, and artillery 
on board, when the ships of his most Christian 
majesty were weakened by the absence of a 
considerable part of their crews, artillery, and 
officers. In a few days the lines of the be- 
siegers might have been carried into the works 
of the besieged ; but under these critical cir- 
cumstances no further delay could be admitted. 
To assault, or to raise the siege, was the only 
alternative. Prudence would have dictated the 
latter, but a sense of honour determined to adopt 
the former. The morning of the 9th of Octo- 
ber was fixed upon for the attack. Two feints 
were made with the country militia; and a 
real attack on the Spring-Hill battery with 3500 
French troops, 600 continentals, and 350 of the 
Charleston militia, led by Count D'Estaing and 
General Lincoln. They marched up to the 
lines with great boldness ; but a heavy and 



SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. 161 

well-directed fire from the batteries, and a cross- 
fire from the galleys did execution such as threw 
the front of the column into confusion. Two 
standards were nevertheless planted on the Bri- 
tish redoubts. Count Pulaski, at the head of 
two hundred horsemen, was in full gallop, rid- 
ing into town between the redoubts, with an 
intention of charging in the rear, when he re- 
ceived a mortal wound. A general retreat of 
the assailants took place after they had stood 
the enemy's fire for fifty-five minutes. Count 
D'Estaing received two wounds ; six hundred 
and thirty-seven of his troops, and two hun- 
dred and fifty-seven continentals, were killed 
or wounded; of the three hundred and fifty 
Charleston militia, who were in the hottest of 
the fire, six were wounded, and the intrepid 
Captain Shepherd killed. 



14* 



162 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



STONY POINT. 

Among the many exploits of gallantry and 
prowess which shed a lustre on the fame of our 
revolutionary army, the storming of the fort at 
Stony Point has always been considered one of 
the most brilliant. 

To General Wayne, who commanded the 
light infantry of the army, the execution of the 
plan was entrusted. Secrecy was deemed so 
much more essential to success than numbers, 
that it was thought unadvisable to add to the 
force already on the lines. One brigade was 
ordered to commence its march, so as to reach 
the scene of action in time to cover the troops 
engaged in the attack, in case of any unlooked 
for disaster ; and Major Lee, of the light dra 
goons, who had been eminently useful in ob- 
taining the intelligence which led to the enter- 
prise, was associated with General Wayne, as 
far as cavalry could be employed in such a 
service. 

The night of the 15th of July, 1779, was 




: . 









i, 



* III!: 



m 



m 



I 



iui <& 



STORMING OF STONY POINT. 163 

fixed on for the assault ; and it being suspected 
that the garrison would probably be more on 
their guard towards day, twelve was chosen for 
the hour. 

Stony Point is a commanding hill, projecting 
far into the Hudson, which washes three-fourths 
of its base The remaining fourth ; s, in a great 
measure, covered by a deep marsh, commenc- 
ing near the river on the upper side, and con- 
tinuing into it below. Over this marsh, there 
is only one crossing-place. But at its junction 
with the river is a sandy beach passable at low 
tide. On the summit of this hill was erected 
the fort, which was furnished with a sufficient 
number of heavy pieces of ordnance. Several 
breast-works and strong batteries were ad- 
vanced in front of the principal work, and about 
halfway down the hill, were two rows of ab- 
battis. The batteries were calculated to com- 
mand the beach and the crossing-place of the 
marsh, and to rake and enfilade any column 
which might be advancing from either of those 
points towards the fort. In addition to these 
defences, several vessels of war were stationed 
in the river, so as, in a considerable degree, to 
command the ground at the foot of the hill. 



164 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The fort was garrisoned by about six hun- 
dred men, under the command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Johnson. 

At noon of the day preceding the night of 
the attack, the light infantry commenced their 
march from Sandy Beach, distant fourteen miles 
from Stony Point, and passing through an ex- 
cessively rugged and mountainous country, 
arrived about eight in the afternoon at Spring 
Steel's, one and a half miles from the fort, 
where the dispositions for the assault were 
made. 

It was intended to attack the works on the 
right and left flanks at the same instant. The 
regiments of Febiger, and of Meiggs, with Ma- 
jor Hull's detachment, formed the right column, 
and Butler's regiment, with two companies un- 
der Major Murfree, formed the left. One hun- 
dred and fifty volunteers, led by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Fleury and Major Posey, constituted 
the van of the right ; and one hundred volun- 
teers under Major Stewart, composed the van 
of the left. At half past eleven, the two co- 
lumns moved on to the charge, the van of each 
with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets. 
They were each preceded by a forlorn hope of 



STORMING OF STONY POINT. 105 

twenty men, the one commanded by Lieutenant 
Gibbon, and the other by Lieutenant Knox, 
whose duty it was to remove the abbatis and 
other obstructions, in order to open a passage 
for the columns which followed close in the 
rear. 

Proper measures having been taken to secure 
every individual on the route, who could give 
intelligence of their approach, the Americans 
reached the marsh undiscovered. Eut unex- 
pected difficulties having been experienced in 
surmounting this and other obstructions in the 
way, the assault did not commence until twenty 
minutes after twelve. Both columns then rushed 
forward, under a tremendous fire of musketry 
and grape shot. Surmounting every obstacle, 
they entered the works at the point of the bay- 
onet, and without having discharged a single 
piece, obtained complete possession of the post. 

The humanity displayed by the conquerors 
was not less conspicuous, nor less honourable, 
than their courage. Not a single individual 
suffered after resistance had ceased. 

All the troops engaged in this perilous ser- 
vice manifested a degree of ardour and imp-- 



166 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

tuosity which proved them to be capable of the 
most difficult enterprises ; and all distinguished 
themselves whose situation enabled them to do 
so. Colonel Fleury was the first to enter the 
fort, and strike the British standard. Major 
Posey mounted the works almost at the same 
instant, and was the first to give the watch- word 
— " The fort 's our own." Lieutenants Gibbon 
and Knox performed the service allotted to them 
with a degree of intrepidity which could not be 
surpassed. Out of twenty men who constituted 
the party of the former, seventeen were killed 
or wounded. 

The loss sustained by the garrison was not 
considerable. The return made by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Johnson, represented their dead at only 
twenty, including one captain, and their wound- 
ed at six officers and sixty-eight privates. The 
return made by General Wayne states their 
dead at sixty-three, including two officers. This 
difference may be accounted for, by supposing, 
that among those Colonel Johnson supposed to 
be missing, there were many killed. The pri- 
soners amounted to five hundred and forty-three, 
among whom were one lieutenant-colonel, four 



STORMING OF STONY POINT. 167 

captains, and twenty subaltern officers. The 
military stores taken in the fort were also con- 
siderable. 

The loss sustained by the assailants was by 
no means proportioned to the apparent danger 
of the enterprise. The killed and wounded did 
not exceed one hundred men. General Wayne 
himself, who marched at the head of Febiger's 
regiment in the right column, received a slight 
wound in the head, which stunned him for a 
time, but did not compel him to leave the co- 
lumn. Being supported by his aids, he entered 
the fort with the regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Hay was also among the wounded. 

The intrepidity, joined with humanity, its 
noblest companion, displayed on that occasion 
by the Pennsylvania Hero and his brave fol- 
lowers, cannot be too highly esteemed nor too 
frequently commemorated. 



168 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



DE KALB'S ACCOUNT OF HIS FAMILY. 

His excellency, Horatio Gates, was the com- 
mander-in-chief; but as he had not yet arrived, 
the command rested on that brave old German 
general, the Baron de Kalb. Colonel Semp 
introduced us in very flattering terms ; styling 
us " continental colonels, and two of the wealthi- 
est and most distinguished patriots of South 
Carolina !" 

I shall never forget what I felt when intro- 
duced to this gentleman. He appeared to be 
rather elderly ; but though the snow of winter 
was on his locks, his cheeks were still reddened 
over with the bloom of spring. His person 
was large and manly, above the common size, 
with great nerve and activity ; while his fine 
blue eyes beamed with the mild radiance of 
intelligence and goodness. 

He received us with great politeness, saying, 
" I am glad to see you ; especially as you are 
the first Carolinians that I have seen ; which 
has not a little surprised me. I thought that 



DE KALB'S ACCOUNT OF HIS FAMILY. 169 

British tyranny would have sent great numbers 
from South Carolina to join our arms ; but so 
far from it, we are told they are all running to 
take British protection. Surely, they are not 
already tired of fighting for liberty !" 

" I assure you, sir," replied Colonel Marion, 
" that though kept under by fear, they still mor- 
tally hate the British ; and will, I am confident, 
the moment they see an army of friends at 
their doors, fly to their standard, like a gene- 
rous pack to the sound of the hunting horn." 

" I trust it will prove so," answered De Kalb. 
After some general conversation, while we were 
comfortably enveloped in fragrant clouds of 
tobacco smoke, he said to Colonel Marion, 
" Can you answer me one question V 9 

" A thousand, most gladly, if I can, gene- 
ral." 

" Well, colonel, can you tell me my age?" 

" Why, truly, that is a hard question, gene- 
ral." 

" A hard question ! How do you make that 
out?" 

" Why, sir," replied Marion, " there is a 
strange January and May sort of contrast be- 
tween your locks and your looks, that quite 
15 



170 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

confuses me. By your locks you seem to be 
in the wilder, by your looks in the summer of 
your days. You may be about forty." 
" Good heavens ! no more than forty ?" 
"Not a day more, upon a soldier's honour." 
" Ha ! ha ! ha ! — Well, colonel, I would not 
for a thousand guineas, that your riflemen shot 
as wide off the mark, as you guess. Forty- 
two years I have been in the service of the 
king of France ; and I am now sixty-three." 

'* Impossible !" we both exclaimed at once. 
" Such youthful bloom at sixty-three !" 

" If you are surprised at my looks, gentle- 
men, what would you have thought to have 
seen my father, at the age of eighty-seven 2" 
" Is your father yet alive, general V 
" Alive ! yes, thank God ; and I trust he will 
be for many a good year yet to come. The 
very Christmas before I sailed for America, I 
went to see him. It was full three hundred 
miles from Paris. On arriving at the house, I 
found my dear old mother at her wheel, in her 
eighty-third year, while one of her great-grand- 
daughters carded the wool, and sung a hymn 
for her. Soon as the first transport of meeting 
was over, I eagerly inquired for my father. 



DE KALB'S ACCOUNT OF HIS FAMILY. 171 

" Do not be uneasy, my son," said she ; " your 
father has only gone to the woods with his three 
great grand-children, to cut some fuel for the 
fire, and they will all be here presently." In a 
short time, I heard them coming. My father 
was the foremost, with his axe under his arm, 
and a stout billet of wood on his shoulder ; and 
the children, each with his little load, stagger- 
ing along, and prattling .to my father with all 
their might. Be assured, gentlemen, it was a 
most delicious moment to me. Thus, after a 
long absence, to meet a beloved father, not only 
alive, but enjoying health and dear domestic 
happiness above the lot of kings. Also to see 
the two extremes of human life, youth and age, 
thus sweetly meeting and mingling in that cor- 
dial love, which turns the cottage into a para- 
dise." 

While telling this story of his aged father, 
the general's fine countenance caught an ani- 
mation which perfectly charmed us all. 



172 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN RE VOLITION 



BATTLE OF CAMDEN. 

The efforts of the British in the Southern 
States had been very strenuous and successful. 
Charleston, the chief city, had been taken. All 
the American detachments, collected with great 
difficulty, easily dissolved by their own fears, 
ill furnished with arms, and unqualified for war, 
by inexperience and want of discipline, were 
instantly overwhelmed and dispersed by the 
well-equipped cavalry of Tarleton, and the vete- 
rans of Rawdon and Cornwallis. The Ameri- 
can leaders were famous for their valour, per- 
severance, and activity ; but these qualities 
would not supply the place of guns, and of 
hands to manage them. At this crisis General 
Gates took the command of that miserable rem- 
nant which bore the name of the southern army, 
and which mustered about fifteen hundred men. 
A very numerous and formidable force existed 
in the promises of North Carolina and Virginia. 
The paper armies of the new states always 
made a noble appearance. All the muniments 



BATTLE OF CAMDEN. 173 

of war overflowed the skirts of these armies; 
but, alas ! the field was as desolate as the paper 
estimate was full. The promised army proved 
to be only one-tenth of the stipulated number, 
and assembled at the scene of action long after 
the fixed time. The men were destitute of arms 
and ammunition, and scantily supplied both 
with the patriotism and courage of true soldiers. 

Two modes of immediate action were pro- 
posed. One was to advance into the country 
possessed by the enemy, by a road somewhat 
circuitous, but which would supply the army 
with accommodations and provisions. Gates 
was averse to dilatory measures. He was, per- 
haps, somewhat misled by the splendid success 
which had hitherto attended him. He was 
anxious to come to action immediately, and to 
terminate the war by a few bold and energetic 
efforts. He therefore resolved to collect all the 
troops into one body, and to meet the enemy as 
soon as possible. Two days after his arrival 
in camp he began his march by the most direct 
road. This road, unfortunately, led through a 
barren country, in the hottest and most un- 
wholesome season of the year. 

During this march all the forebodings of 
15* 



174 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

those who preferred a different track were am- 
ply fulfilled. A scanty supply of cattle, found 
nearly wild in the woods, was their principal 
sustenance, while bread or flour was almost 
wholly wanting, and when we add to a scarcity 
of food the malignity of the climate and the 
season, we shall not wonder that the work of 
the enemy was anticipated in the destruction of 
considerable numbers by disease. The perse- 
verance of Gates, in surmounting the obstacles 
presented by piny thickets and dismal swamps, 
deserves praise, however injudicious the origi- 
nal choice of such a road may be thought by 
some. In this course he effected a junction 
with some militia of North Carolina, and with 
a detachment under Porterfield. 

He finally took possession of Clermont, 
whence the British commander, Lord Rawdon, 
had previously withdrawn. That general pre- 
pared, by collecting and centering his forces in 
one body, to overwhelm him in a single battle. 
Lord Rawdon was posted with his forces at 
Camden. After some deliberation, the Ameri- 
can leader determined to approach the English, 
and expose himself to the chance of a battle. 

Rumour had made the numbers of the Ame- 



BATTKE OF CAMDEN. 175 

ricans much greater than they really were in 
the imagination of the British. Cornvvallis him- 
self hastened to the scene of action, and, though 
mustering all his strength for this arduous occa- 
sion, could not bring above two thousand effec- 
tive men into the field. Nineteen, however, 
out of twenty of these were veterans of the 
most formidable qualifications. With the rein- 
forcement of seven hundred Virginia militia 
and some other detachments, Gates's army did 
not fall short of four thousand men. A very 
small portion of these were regular troops, 
while the rest were a wavering and undisciplined 
militia, whose presence was rather injurious 
than beneficial. 

Notwithstanding his inferiority of numbers, 
Cornvvallis found that a retreat would be more 
pernicious than a battle under the worst au- 
spices ; and he himself, on the 16th of August, 
prepared to attack his enemy. General Gates 
had taken the same resolution at the same time ; 
and the adverse forces came to an engagement 
in which the Americans suffered a defeat. The 
loss of the battle was ascribed with reason to 
the cowardice and unskilfulness of the militia, 
j&xnong these the rout and confusion was abso- 



170 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

lute and irretrievable, and Gates had the singu- 
lar fortune of conducting the most prosperous 
and most disastrous of the military enterprises 
in this war. 

Here was a dismal reverse in the life of Gates. 
His prosperous scale sunk at Camden as fast 
as it had mounted at Saratoga. There had 
been a difference of opinion as to the best road 
to the theatre of action, and the hardships and 
diseases which one party had foretold would 
infest the road which he took, actually exceed- 
ed what was menaced. A battle lost against 
half the number, in circumstances where the 
vanquished army was taken, in some degree, 
by surprise, would not fail to suggest suspi- 
cions as to the caution or discernment of the 
general. 

Gates continued in command till October the 
5th in the same year, about fifty days after the 
disaster in Camden. In this interval he had 
been busily employed in repairing the conse- 
quences of that defeat, and was now reposing 
for the winter. He was, on that day, however, 
displaced, and subjected to the inquiry of a spe- 
cial court. This inquiry was a tedious one, 
but terminated finally in the acquittal of the 



DEATH OF BARON DE KALB. 177 

general. He was reinstated in his military 
command in the year 1782. In the meantime, 
however, the great scenes of the southern war, 
especially the capture of Corn wal lis, had passed. 



DEATH OF BARON DE KALB. 

Major Horry, in his "Life of General Ma- 
rion," gives the following account of an inter- 
view with the brave De Kalb, the day before 
the disastrous battle of Camden : 

Immediately on receiving orders of depar- 
ture, we waited on the good old De Kalb to take 
our leave, and to express our deep regret al 
parting with him. " It is with equal regret, my 
dear sirs, that I part with you," said he ; " be- 
cause I feel a presentiment that we part to meet 
no more." 

We told him we hoped better things. 

" Oh no !" replied he, " it is impossible. 
War is a kind of game, and has its fixed rules, 
whereby, when we are well acquainted with 
them, we can pretty correctly tell how the trial 



178 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

will go. To-morrow, it seems, the die is to be 
cast ; and, in my judgment, without the least 
chance on our side. The militia will, I suppose, 
as usual, play the back-game ; that is, get out 
of battle as fast as their legs will carry them. 
But that, you know^, won't do for me. I am an 
old soldier, and cannot run ; and I believe I 
have some brave fellows that will stand by me 
to the last. So, when you hear of our battle, 
you will probably hear that your old friend, De 
Kalb, is at rest." 

I never was more aftected in my life ,* and I 
perceived tears in the eyes of General Marion 
De Kalb saw them too,- and taking ns by the 
hand, he said, with a firm tone, and animated 
look, " No ! no ! gentlemen ; no emotion for 
me, but those of congratulation. I am happy. 
To die is the irreversible decree of him who 
made us. Then what joy to be able to meet 
death without dismay. This, thank God, is my 
case. The happiness of man is my wish; that 
happiness I deem inconsistent with slavery. 
And to avert so great an evil from an innocent 
people, I will gladly meet the British to-mor- 
row, at any odds whatever." 

As he spoke this, a fire flashed from his eyes, 



DEATH OF BARON DE KALB. 179 

which, seemed to me to demonstrate the divinity 
of virtue, and the immortality of the soul. We 
left him with feelings which I shall never for- 
get, while memory maintains her place in my 
aged brain. 

It was on the morning of August 15th, 1780, 
that we left the army in a good position, near 
Rugeley's mills, twelve miles from Camden, 
where the enemy lay. About ten, that night, 
orders were given to march and surprise the 
enemy, who had, at the same lime, commenced 
a march to surprise the Americans. To their 
•mutual astonishment, the advance of both ar- 
mies met at two o'clock, and began firing on 
each other. It was, however, soon discontinued 
by both parties, who appeared very willing to 
leave the matter to be decided by daylight. A 
council of war was called, in which De Kalb 
advised that the army should fall back to Ruge- 
ley's mills, and wait to be attacked. General 
Gates not only rejected this excellent counsel, 
but threw out insinuations that it originated in 
fear. Upon this, the brave old man leaped from 
his horse, and placed himself at the head of his 
command on foot, saying, with considerable 
warmth, " Well, sir, perhaps a few hours will 
show who are the brave." 



180 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

As daylight increased, the frightened militia 
began to discover the woods, reddened all over 
with the scarlet uniform of the British army, 
which soon, with rattling drums and thunder- 
ing cannon, came rushing on to the charge ; 
and they scarcely waited to give them a distant 
fire before they broke, and fled in every direc- 
tion. General Gates clapped spurs to his horse, 
as he said, " to bring the rascals back." How- 
ever, he did not bring himself back, nor did he 
stop till he reached Charlotte, eighty miles from 
the field of battle. Two-thirds of the army 
having thus shamefully taken themselves off, 
the brave old De Kalb and his handful of con- 
tinentals were left to try the fortune of the day. 
More determined valour was never displayed : 
for though outnumbered more than two to one, 
they sustained the whole British force for more 
than an hour. Glorying in the bravery of his 
continentals, De Kalb towered before them like 
a pillar of fire. But, alas ! what can valour do 
against equal valour, aided by such fearful odds ? 
While bending forward to animate his troops, 
the veteran received eleven wounds. Fainting 
with loss of blood, he fell to the ground, while 
Britons and Americans were killed over him, 



DEATH OF BARON DE KALB. 181 

as they furiously strove to destroy, or to defend. 
In the midst of clashing bayonets, his only sur- 
viving aid, Monsieur de Buyson, stretched his 
arms over the fallen hero, and called out, " Save 
the Baron de Kalb ! save the Baron de Kalb !" 
The British officers then interposed, and pre- 
vented his immediate destruction. 

De Kalb died, as he had lived, the uncon- 
quered friend of liberty. When an English 
officer condoled with him for his misfortune, he 
replied, "I thank you, sir, for your generous 
sympathy ; but I die the death I always prayed 
for ; the death of a soldier, fighting for the 
rights of man." He survived but a few hours, 
and was buried in the plains of Camden, near 
which his last battle was fought. 

Many years after, when the great Washing- 
ton visited Camden, he eagerly inquired for the 
grave of De Kalb. It was shown to him. Gaz- 
ing upon it thoughtfully, he exclaimed, with a 
deep sigh, " So, there lies the brave De Kalb ; 
the generous stranger, who came from a dis- 
tant land, to fight our battles, and to water, with 
his blood, the tree of liberty. Would to God 
he had lived to share its fruits !" 
16 



182 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



GENERAL GATES. 

The following highly interesting anecdote 
was given by Dr. William Read, at the period 
of its occurrence, superintending the Hospital 
Department at Hillsborough : 

Having occasion to call on General Gates, 
relative to the business of the department under 
my immediate charge, I found him traversing 
the apartment which he occupied, under the 
influence of high excitement ; his agitation was 
excessive — every feature of his countenance, 
every gesture betrayed it. Official despatches, 
informing him that he was superseded, and that 
the command of the Southern Army had been 
transferred to General Greene, had just been 
received and perused by him. His counte- 
nance, however, betrayed no expression of irri- 
tation or resentment ; it was sensibility alone 
that caused his emotion. An open letter which 
he held in his hand, was often raised to his lips, 
and kissed with devotion, while the exclama- 
tion repeatedly escaped them — " Great man !" 



GENERAL GATES. 183 

' Noble, generous procedure !' When the tu- 
mult of his mind had subsided, and his thoughts 
found utterance, he, with strong expression of 
feeling, exclaimed — ' I have received this day 
a communication from the commander-in-chief, 
which has conveyed more consolation to my 
bosom, more ineffable delight to my heart, than 
I had believed it possible for it ever to have felt 
again. With affectionate tenderness he sym- 
pathizes with me in my domestic misfortunes, 
and condoles with me on the loss I have sus- 
tained by the recent death of an only son ; and 
then, with peculiar delicacy, lamenting my mis- 
fortune in battle, assures me, that his confi- 
dence in my zeal and capacity is so little im- 
paired, that the command of the right wing of 
the army will be bestowed on me as soon as I 
can make it convenient to join him.' " 



184 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



GENERAL MARION'S ADDRESS TO HIS SOL- 
DIERS. 

After the destruction of the American army 
at Camden, Colonel Marion, with his little band 
of volunteer troops, being in the immediate 
neighbourhood, were in imminent danger. When 
he heard the dreadful tidings of defeat, he re- 
treated to the woods, and ordering his company 
to halt and form, he addressed them as follows : 
" Gentlemen, you are aware of our situation — 
so widely different from what it once was. 
Once we were a happy people ! Liberty shone 
upon our land, bright as the sun that gilds yon 
fields ; and we and our fathers rejoiced in its 
beams, as gay as the birds that enliven our for- 
ests. But, alas ! those golden days have fled, 
and the clouds of war now hang dark and low- 
ering above our heads. Our once peaceful land 
is filled with uproar and death. Foreign ruf- 
fians invade our very firesides and altars, and 
leave us no alternative but slavery or death. 
Two gallant armies have marched to mr assist- 
ance, but both are lost. That under General 



GENERAL MARIONS ADDRESS. 185 

Lincoln, duped and butchered at Savannah ; and 
that under General Gates, imprudently over- 
marched, is now cut up at Camden. Thus all 
our hopes from the north, are at an end ; and 
poor Carolina is left to fight for herself. A sad 
alternative indeed, when her own children are 
madly uniting with the enemy, and not one in 
a thousand will rise to take her part. My 
countrymen ! I wish to know your minds on 
this momentous subject. As for myself, I con- 
sider my life as but a moment ; and to fill that 
moment with duty, is my all. To guard this 
innocent country from the evils of slavery, now 
seems my greatest duty : and I am therefore 
determined, that while I live, she shall never 
be enslaved. She may come to that wretched 
state, — but these eyes shall never behold it. 
She shall never clank her chains in my eyes, 
and, pointing to the ignominious badge, exclaim, 
' It icas your coivardice that brought me to 
this: " 

One and all, they answered, " We will con- 
quer for our country, or die with you." 

" Then, my brave friends," said he, " draw 
your swords ! Now for a circle, emblematical 
of our eternal union ! and, pointing your blades 
16* 



186 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIOxN. 

to heaven, the bright throne of Him who made 
us free, swear you will never be the slaves of 
Britain !" It was all devoutly done. 

The reader will be pleased to hear that this 
brave man rose to a high rank in the army 
and lived to enjoy the peace and prosperity of 
the country he so ably defended. His wife sur- 
vived him ; and as long as she was able to ride, 
the poor people of Carolina used to press round 
her carriage, and bless her, as they exclaimed, 
" That is the widow of our glorious old Ma- 
rion !" 



BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN. 

From the time of the general submission of 
the inhabitants of South Carolina, in the sum- 
mer of 1780, pains were taken to increase the 
royal force by the co-operation of the yeomanry 
of the country. Commissions in the militia 
were given by the British commanders to such 
of the inhabitants as they supposed had influ- 
ence, and were most firmly attached to their 
interest. They persuaded the people to embody 



BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN. 187 

by representing to the uninformed that Ameri- 
can affairs were entirely ruined, and that far- 
ther opposition would only be a prolongation 
of their distresses, if not their utter ruin. They 
endeavoured to reconcile those who had fami- 
lies and Were advanced in life to the bearing of 
arms, by considerations drawn from the neces- 
sity of defending their property and keeping 
their domestics in proper subordination. From 
young men without families more was expected. 
Whilst Lord Cornwallis was restrained from 
active operations by the excessive heats and 
unhealthy season which followed his victory at 
Camden, Colonel Ferguson, of the seventy-first 
British regiment, had undertaken personally to 
visit the settlements of the disaffected to the 
American cause, and to train their young men 
for service in the field. With these, at a pro- 
per season, he was to join the main army, and 
to co-operate with it in the reduction of North- 
Carolina. This corps had been chiefly collected 
from the remotest parts of the State, and was 
induced to continue for some length of time 
near to the western mountains, with the expec- 
tation of intercepting Colonel Clark on his re- 
treat from Georgia. Among those who joined 



188 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Colonel Ferguson were a considerable propor- 
tion of those licentious people who have col- 
lected themselves out of all parts of America 
into these remote countries, and were willing 
to take the opportunity of the prevailing con- 
fusion to carry on their usual depredations. As 
they marched through the country on the pre- 
tence of promoting the service of his Britannic 
majesty, ' they plundered the Whig citizens. 
Violences of this kind, frequently repeated, in- 
duced many persons to consult their own safety 
by fleeing over the mountains. By such lively 
representations of their sufferings as the dis- 
tressed are always ready to give, they commu- 
nicated an alarm to that hardy race of repub- 
licans who live to the westward of the Alle- 
gheny. Hitherto these mountaineers had only 
heard of war at a distance, and had been in 
peaceable possession of that independence for 
which their countrymen on the sea-coast were 
contending. Alarmed for their own safety by 
the near approach of Colonel Ferguson, and 
roused by the violences and depredations of his 
followers, they embodied to check the neigh- 
bouring foe. This was done of their own mo- 
tion, without any requisition from the govern 



BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN. 189 

ments of America, or the officers of the conti- 
nental army. Being all mounted and unencum- 
bered with baggage, their motions were rapid. 
Each man set out with his blanket, knapsack, 
and gun, in quest of Colonel Ferguson, in the 
same manner he was used to pursue the wild 
beasts of the forest. At night the earth afford- 
ed them a bed, and the heavens a covering : 
the running stream quenched their thirst, while 
a few cattle, driven in their rear, together with 
the supplies acquired by their guns, secured 
them provision. They soon found out the en- 
campment of Colonel Ferguson. This was on 
an eminence of a circular base, known by the 
name of King's Mountain, situated near the 
confines of North and South Carolina. Though 
Colonel Campbell had a nominal command over 
the whole, their enterprise was conducted with- 
out regular military subordination, under the 
direction of the four colonels, Cleveland, Shel- 
by, Sevier, and Williams, each of whom re? 
spectively led on his own men. It being appre- 
hended that Colonel Ferguson was hastening 
his march down the country to join Lord Corn- 
wallis, the Americans selected nine hundred 
and ten of their best men, and mounted them 



190 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

on their fleetest horses. With this force they 
came up with Colonel Ferguson on the 7th of 
October, 1780. As they approached the royal 
encampment, it was agreed to divide their force. 
Some ascended the mountain, while others went 
round its base in opposite directions. Colonel 
Cleveland, who led one of the detachments 
round the mountain, in his progress, discovered 
an advanced picquet of the royal army. On 
this occasion he addressed his party in the fol- 
lowing plain, unvarnished language : " My 
brave fellows, we have beat the Tories, and we 
can beat them. They are all cowards. If they 
had the spirit of men, they would join with 
their fellow-citizens in supporting the independ- 
ence of their country. When engaged you are 
not to wait for the word of command from me. 
I will show you by my example how to fight. 
I can undertake no more. Every man must 
consider himself as an officer, and act from his 
own judgment. Fire as quick as you can, and 
stand your ground as long as you can. When 
you can do no better, get behind trees or re- 
treat ; but I beg of you not to run quite off. 
If we are repulsed, let us make a point to re- 
turn and renew the fight. Perhaps we may 



BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN. 191 

have better luck in the second attempt than the 
first. If any of you are afraid, such have leave 
to retire, and they are requested immediately 
to take themselves off." A firing commenced. 
Some of the Americans were on horseback, 
others on foot. Some behind trees, and others 
exposed. None were under the restraints of 
military discipline, but all were animated with 
the enthusiasm of liberty. The picquet soon 
gave way, and were pursued as they retired up 
the mountain to the main body. Colonel Fer- 
guson, with the greatest bravery, ordered his 
men to charge. The Americans commanded 
by Colonel Cleveland followed his advice, and, 
having fired as long as they could with safety, 
they retired from the approaching bayonet. 
They had scarcely given way when the other 
detachment, commanded by Colonel Shelby, 
having completed the circuit of the mountain, 
opportunely arrived, and from an unexpected 
quarter poured in a well-directed fire. Colonel 
Ferguson desisted from the pursuit, and engaged 
with his new adversaries. The British bayonet 
was again successful, and caused them also to 
fall back. By this time the party commanded 
by Colonel Campbell had ascended the moun- 



192 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

tain, and renewed the attack from that emi 
nence. Colonel Ferguson, whose conduct was 
equal to his courage, presented a new front, and 
was again successful ; but all his exertions 
were unavailing. At this moment the men who 
began the attack, no less obedient to the second 
request of their commander in returning to 
their posts, than they were to the first in secur- 
ing themselves by a timely retreat, had rallied 
and renewed their fire. As often as one of the 
American parties was driven back, another re- 
turned to their station. Resistance on the part 
of Colonel Ferguson was in vain ; but his un- 
conquerable spirit refused to surrender. After 
having repulsed a succession of adversaries 
pouring in their fire from new directions, this 
distinguished officer received a mortal wound. 
No chance of escape being left, and all pros- 
pect of successful resistance being at an end, 
the second in command sued for quarters. The 
killed, wounded and taken, exceeded eleven hun- 
dred, of which nearly one hundred were regu- 
lars. The assailants had the honour of reduc- 
ing a number superior to their own. The Ame- 
ricans lost comparatively few, but in that num- 
ber was that distinguished militia officer, Colo- 



LIEUTENANT REESE BOWEN. 193 

nel Williams, who has already been mentioned 
as uncommonly active in heading the Whig 
citizens of the district of Ninety-Six, in the 
State of South Carolina. 

This unexpected advantage gave new spirits 
to the desponding Americans, and in a great 
degree frustrated a well-concerted scheme for 
strengthening the British army, by the co-ope- 
ration of the inhabitants who were disaffected 
to the cause of America. 



LIEUTENANT REESE BOWEN. 

At the battle of King's Mountain, Lieutenant 
Reese Bowen, of Colonel Campbell's regiment, 
raised in Washington county, Virginia, was 
observed, while marching forward to attack the 
enemy's post, to make a hazardous and very- 
unnecessary exposure of his person. One of 
his companions calling out, " why, Bowen, do. 
you not take a tree 1 why rashly present your- 
self to the deliberate aim of riflemen, concealed 
behind every rock and bush before you ? Death 
17 



194 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

must inevitably follow if you persist." He in- 
dignantly replied, " take to a tree ! no — never 
shall it be said, that I sought safety by hiding 
my person, or dodging from a Briton or Tory, 
who opposed me in the field." As he concluded 
the sentence, a rifle-ball struck him in the breast. 
He fell and expired. 



ARNOLD'S TREACHERY. 

In the early part of the year 1780, Arnold 
received the first written proposal, which was 
addressed to him from New York, by an agent 
of Sir Henry Clinton, to engage him to change 
his party. Praises and promises were lavished 
in a manner which could seduce no one but a 
man who was already blinded by his own pas- 
sions. Resolved to have no confidents among 
his fellow-citizens, he imparted his perfidious 
designs to his wife alone, who had so much 
contributed to inspire him with them. He stu- 
died to conceal them, under appearances of 
patriotism, and affected to have forgotten the 



Arnold's treachery. 195 

sentence of the court-martial. The intermediate 
agent between Clinton and him, was Charles 
Beverly Robinson, who, though an American 
by birth, served as a colonel in the English 
army. 

Congress had just been informed of the near 
arrival of the French army, commanded by 
Count Rochambeau, and this secret, ill kept by 
some members of that assembly, had reached 
the ears of Arnold. For the purpose of know- 
ing the plan of the campaign, he paid a visit 
to the French ambassador, which he had ne- 
glected to do since the correspondence of which 
we have spoken, and his questions were so dex- 
terous, that Luzerne could only elude them in 
part. It was instructing Arnold too much to 
tell him that a conference would take place be- 
tween Washington and Rochambeau, that com- 
missioners on the part of France would arrive 
before the army, and that the squadron would 
sail in a few weeks after their departure. Ar- 
nold understood that the country bordering on 
the Hudson, would be the principal theatre of 
the war, that it was of importance to the Eng- 
lish to make themselves masters of the course 
of that river, and that he could not serve them 



196 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

better, than by getting an appointment at West 
Point, where a chain barred the Hudson. He 
obstinately refused more brilliant situations, and 
solicited this with so much perseverance that 
he obtained it. 

The English, of whom he demanded before- 
hand the price of his treason, thought proper 
to confine themselves to promises. He was to 
receive thirty thousand pounds sterling, and to 
preserve in the English army his rank of bri- 
gadier-generaL On his side, he promised to 
deliver West Point, and Sir Henry Clinton 
pressed him to fulfil that engagement on the 
10th of July, 1780. But Arnold wished to 
wait till the departure of General Washington, 
who was to go very soon to meet Count Ro- 
chambeau at Hartford, in Connecticut. 

" Our master leaves his quarters on the 11th 
of September" he wrote to John Andre, a 
young aid-de-camp to General Clinton. A cor- 
respondence was established between Andre 
and Arnold, under fictitious names, and veiled 
by pretended commercial transactions, they 
employed an American as their messenger, who 
lived between the lines which separated the two 
armies. 



Arnold's treachery. 197 

Washington not having set out on the 17th, 
nor either of the three following days, Arnold 
demanded, as an indispensable preliminary, a 
conference with Andre. They met on the bank 
of the river, Arnold put into the hands of An- 
dre plans of routes, of forts, of the condition 
of the garrison, memoirs of engineers, &c, 
and it was agreed that the enterprise on West 
Point should be executed on the 25th or 26th. 

A canoe was to reconduct Andre on board : 
an English sloop of war had brought him five 
miles below W 7 est Point, but an American fort 
firing on the vessel had forced her to drop some 
miles lower. This change of station alarmed 
the master and rowers of the canoe ; they re- 
fused to carry Andre, who, in quitting his Eng- 
lish uniform, ran the risk of returning by land, 
furnished with a passport from Arnold. He 
had reached Tarry Town, and believed him- 
self no longer on the enemy's territory, when 
three young militiamen stopped him. He ac- 
costed them as Englishmen, and when he dis- 
covered his error, he showed them his passport, 
but it was too late. They searched his boots, 
and found in them the papers which Arnold had 
put into his hands, and conducted him to Colo- 
17* 



193 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

nel Jameson, who commanded the American 
advance post. The first idea of Jameson was 
to carry him before Arnold himself, which 
would have insured the success of the enter- 
prise ; but soon recollecting the papers seized 
were in the hand-writing of that general, 
Jameson sent Andre to Old Salem, under a 
strong escort, and addressed the papers to 
"Washington, informing him of all that had 
happened. 

The messenger intrusted with that despatch 
did not meet Washington, who returned from 
Hartford by another road, and it was this cir- 
cumstance which saved Arnold. The latter 
was informed on the 25th, that Andre had been 
arrested on the 23d, and he did not deliberate 
long on the part which remained for him to 
take. He withdrew from West Point an hour 
before the arrival of Washington. The Con- 
gress brought Andre to trial ; two foreigners, 
Generals La Fayette, and Steuben, were of the 
number of his judges. Conformably to the 
laws of war and the usage of nations, it was 
declared that he had, as a spy of the enemy, 
merited death; he submitted to it with calm 
courage, of which no ostentation lessened the 



Arnold's treachery. 199 

nobleness or weakened the interest. Mrs. Ar- 
nold, who had been left at West Point, was 
treated with attentions, which the historian is 
pleased to represent as extremely honourable 
to the Americans. As to Arnold, it is not said 
whether he received the thirty thousand pounds 
sterling, but he obtained the rank of brigadier 
general in the English army, and served in 
that capacity during the rest of the war against 
his country. He died despised even by the 
English, the usual fate of traitors. 

General Washington did not forget the 
three militiamen who had arrested Andre. He 
transmitted their names to Congress, and that 
assembly passed a resolution importmg, that 
they had a high opinion of the virtuous and 
patriotic conduct of John Paulding, David Wil- 
liams, and Isaac Vanwert: that each of them 
should receive annually two hundred dollars 
from the public treasury, and that a medal 
should be struck, upon which, after inserting 
their names, should be inscribed these words, 
"lovo of country has triumphed." 



2"0 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



DEATH OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

In the year 1780, General Arnold, who, 
from his rank and talents, had been in great 
favour with the Americans, quitted their ranks 
and joined the British army. This, though a 
valuable acquisition, was too dearly purchased 
by the degradation and death of the brave and 
amiable Major Andre, who volunteered his ser- 
vices, to make arrangements with Arnold on 
the occasion. By some accident Major Andre 
was compelled to remain disguised within the 
American lines all night, and next morning 
was discovered, after he had passed them on 
his way to New York. He was seized, con- 
fined, tried, and sentenced to be hung as a spy, 
notwithstanding every remonstrance that could 
be urged against it. The American officers 
who guarded him the day before his execution, 
describe him as maintaining the utmost firm- 
ness and composure; and when they were 
silent and melancholy, he would, by some 
cheerful remark, endeavor to dispel the gloom. 



DEATH OF MAJOR ANDRE. 201 

However, his composure was not the result of 
a want of sensibility, or a disregard oflife; but 
of those proud and lofty feelings, the character- 
istics of true greatness, which raises the soul 
above the influence of events, and enables the 
soldier, with unfaltering nerve and steady eye, 
to meet death in whatever form it may approach 
him; for in his sleep, nature would play her part 
— and home and friends — his country and his 
fame— his sisters and his love, would steal upon 
his heart, contrasting fancied pleasures with 
certain pain, rendering his dreams disturbed, 
and his sleep fitful and troubled. Early in the 
morning, the hour of his execution was an- 
nounced. His countenance did not alter. His 
servant burst into tears. "Leave me," said 
he, with greatness, "until you can behave 
more manfully." The breakfast was furnished 
from the table of General Washington. He 
ate as usual, then shaved and dressed himself; 
placed his hat upon the table, and cheerfully 
said, "I am ready at any moment to wait upon 
you, gentlemen." Lieutenant Bowman de- 
scribes it as a day of settled melancholy, and 
that Major Andre was, apparently, the least 
affected. To General Washington it was a 



202 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

trial of excruciating pain. It was with great 
difficulty that he placed his name to the war- 
rant of his execution. Captain and Lieu- 
tenant Bowman walked arm in arm with Major 
Andre. It is well known that he solicited to 
be shot; and it was not until he came within 
sight of the gallows, that he knew the manner 
of his death. "It is too much," said he mo- 
mentarily shrinking. "I had hoped," added 
he, recovering himself, "that my death might 
have been otherwise. But I pray you to bear 
witness that I die like a soldier." 



FREDERICK W. AUGUSTUS BARON STEUBEN. 

After General Arnold treacherously deserted 
his post at West Point, the Baron Steuben never 
failed to manifest his indignation and abhor- 
rence of his name and character; and while 
inspecting Colonel SheMon's regiment of light 
horse, the name of Arnold struck his ear. The 
soldier was ordered to the front. He was 

fine looking fellow, with horse and equip- 



BARON STEUBEN. 203 

ments in excellent order. " Change your name, 
brother soldier," said General Steuben; "you 
are too respectable to bear the name of a 
traitor." 

"What name shall I take, General?" 

"Take any other name. Mine is at your 
service." 

Most cheerfully was the offer accepted; and 
his name was entered on the rolls as Steuben. 
He, or his children, now enjoy land given to 
him, in the town of Steuben, by the Baron. 
This brave soldier met him after the war. " I 
am well settled, General," said he, "and have 
a wife and son. I have called my son after 
you, sir." 

"I thank you, my friend. What name have 
you given the boy?" 

"I called him Baron. — What else could I 
call him?" 



204 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



BENEDICT ARNOLD, THE TRAITOR. 

Every body knows, we presume, that Bene- 
dict Arnold was the object of scorn and con- 
tempt in England, after his treachery, and that 
he was often grossly insulted in that country. 
The following anecdote, however, which we 
have never seen in print, may be new to some 
of our readers. 

Shortly after the peace of 1783, Arnold was 
presented at court. While the King was con- 
versing with him, Lord Balcarras, a stately 
old nobleman, who had fought under General 
Burgoyne in the campaigns of America, was 
presented. The King introduced them with, 

"Lord Balcarras — General Arnold." 

" What, Sire," said the haughty old Earl, 
drawing up his lofty form, "the traitor Ar- 
nold," and refused to give him his hand. 

The consequence, as may be anticipated, 
was a challenge from Arnold. They met, and 
it was arranged that the parties should fire to- 
gether. At the signal, Arnold fired ; but Lord 
Balcarras, throwing down his pistol, turned 



BATTLE OF THE COVVPENS. 2^5 

on his heel, and was walking away, when Ar- 
nold exclaimed, 

" Why don't you fire, my Lord?" 
" Sir," said Lord Balcarras looking over his 
shoulder, " I leave you to the executioner." 



BATTLE OF THE COWPENS. 

"Morgan (pursued by Tarleton) having 
been accustomed to fight and to conquer, did 
not relish the eager and interrupting pursuit of 
his adversary ; and sat down at the Cowpens to 
give rest and refreshment to his harassed troops, 
with a resolution no longer to avoid action, 
should his enemy persist in pressing it. Being 
apprised at the dawn of day of Tarleton's ad- 
vance, he instantly prepared for battle. This 
decision grew out of irritation of temper, which 
appears to have overruled the suggestions of 
his sound and discriminating judgment. The 
ground about the Cowpens is covered with 
open wood, admitting the operation of cavalry 
with facility, in which the enemy trebled Mor- 
17 



206 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

gan. His flanks had no resting place, but were 
exposed to be readily turned ; and the Broad 
river ran parallel to his rear, forbidding the 
hope of a safe retreat in the event of disaster. 
Had Morgan crossed this river, and approached 
the mountain, he would have gained a position 
disadvantageous to cavalry, but convenient for 
riflemen ; and would have secured a* less 
dangerous retreat. But these cogent reasons, 
rendered more forcible by his inferiority in 
numbers, could not prevail. Confiding in his 
long tried fortune, conscious of his personal su • 
periority in soldiership, and relying on the skill 
and courage of his troops, he adhered to his 
resolution. Erroneous as was the decision to 
fight in this position, when a better might have 
been easily gained, the disposition for battle 
was masterly. 

Two light parties of militia, under Major 
M'Dowel, of North Carolina, and Major Cun- 
ningham, of Georgia, were advanced in front, 
with orders to feel the enemy as he approached ; 
and, preserving a desultory well-aimed fire as 
they fell back to the front line, to range with it 
and renew the conflict. The main body of the 
militia composed this line, with General Pick- 



BATTLE OF THE COWPEXS. 207 

ens at its head. At a suitable distance in the 
rear of the first line a second was stationed, 
composed of the continental infantry and two 
companies of Virginia militia, under Captains 
Triplett and Taite, commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Howard. Washington's cavalry, re- 
inforced with a company of mounted militia, 
armed with sabres, was held in reserve ; con- 
venient to support the infantry, and protect the 
horses of the rifle militia, which were tied, 
agreeably to usage, in the rear. On the verge 
of battle, Morgan availed himself of the short 
and awful interim to exhort his troops. First 
addressing himself, with his characteristic pith, 
to the line of militia, he extolled the zeal and 
bravery so often displayed by them, when un- 
supported with the bayonet or sword ; and 
declared his confidence that they could not fail 
in maintaining their reputation, when supported 
by chosen bodies of horse and foot, and con- 
ducted by himself. Nor did he forget to 
glance at his unvarying fortune, and superior 
experience ; or to mention how often, with his 
corps of riflemen, he had brought British troops, 
equal to those before him, to submission. He 
described the deep regret he had already ex- 



203 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

perienced in being obliged, from prudential 
considerations, to retire before an enemy always 
in his power ; exhorted the line to be firm and 
steady; to fire with good aim; and, if they 
would pour in but two volleys at killing dis- 
tance, he would take upon himself to secure 
victory. To the continentals he was very brief. 
He reminded them of the confidence he had 
always reposed in their skill and courage; as- 
sured them that victory was certain, if they 
acted well their part ; and desired them not to 
be discouraged by the sudden retreat of the 
militia, that being part of his plan and orders. 
Then taking post with this line, he waited in 
stern silence for the enemy. 

The British lieutenant-colonel, urging for- 
ward, was at length gratified with the certainty 
of battle ; and, being prone to presume on 
victory, he hurried the formation of his troops. 
The light and legion infantry, with the seventh 
regiment, composed the line of battle ; in the 
centre of which was posted the artillery, con- 
sisting of two grasshoppers ; and a troop of 
dragoons was placed on each flank. The bat- 
talion of the seventy-first regiment, under Major 
M' Arthur, with the remainder of the cavalry, 



BATTLE OF THE COW PENS. 2.-9 

formed the reserve. Tarleton placed himself 
with the line, having under him Major New- 
marsh, who commanded the seventh regiment. 
The disposition was not completed when he 
directed the line to advance, and the reserve to 
wait further orders. The American light 
parties quickly yielded, fell back, and arrayed 
with Pickens. The enemy, shouting, rushed 
forward upon the front line, which retained its 
station, and poured in a close fire ; but, con- 
tinuing to advance with the bayonet on our 
militia, they retired, and gained with haste the 
second line. Here, with part of the corps, 
Pickens took post on Howard's right, and the 
rest fled to their horses — probably with orders 
to remove them to a further distance. Tarle- 
ton pushed forward, and was received by his 
adversary with unshaken firmness. The con- 
test became obstinate, and each party, animated 
by the example of its leader, nobly contended 
for victory. Our line maintained itself so firm- 
ly, as to oblige the enemy to order up his 
reserve. The advance of M' Arthur reanimated 
the British line, which again moved forward ; 
and, outstretching our front, endangered How- 
ard's right. This officer instantly took mea- 
18* 



210 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sures to defend his flank, by directing his 
right company to change its front ; but, mis- 
taking this order, the company fell back ; upon 
which the line began to retire, and General 
Morgan directed it to retreat to the cavalry. 
This manoeuvre being performed with pre- 
cision, our flank became relieved, and the new 
position was assumed with promptitude. Con- 
sidering this retrograde movement the precur- 
sor of flight, the British line rushed on with 
impetuosity and disorder; but, as it drew near, 
Howard faced about, and gave it a close and 
murderous fire. Stunned by this unexpected 
shock, the most advanced of the enemy recoil- 
ed in confusion. Howard seized the happy 
moment, and followed his advantage with the 
bayonet. This decisive step gave us the day. 
The reserve having been brought near the line, 
shared in the destruction of our fire, and pre- 
sented no rallying point to the fugitives. A 
part of the enemy's cavalry, having gained our 
rear, fell on that portion of the militia who had 
retired to their horses. Washington struck at 
them with his dragoons, and drove them before 
him. Thus, by simultaneous efforts, the in- 
fantry and cavalry of the enemy were routed. 



BATTLE OF THE COW PENS. 211 

Morgan pressed home his success, and the pur- 
suit became vigorous and general. The British 
cavalry, having taken no part in the action ex- 
cept the two troops attached to the line, were 
in force to cover the retreat. This, however, 
was not done. The zeal of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Washington in pursuit having carried him far 
before his squadron, Tarleton turned upon him 
with the troop of the seventeenth regiment of 
dragoons, seconded by many of his officers. 
The American lieutenant-colonel was first 
rescued from this critical, contest by one of his 
sergeants, and afterwards by a fortunate shot 
from his bugler's pistol. This check concluded 
resistance on the part of the British officer, who 
drew off with the remains of his cavalry, col- 
lected his stragglers, and hastened to Lord Corn- 
wallis. The baggage guard, learning the issue 
of the battle, moved instantly towards the Bri- 
tish army. A part of the horse, who had 
shamefully avoided action, and refused to charge 
when Tarleton wheeled on the impetuous Wash- 
ington, reached the camp of Cornwallis at Fish- 
er's creek, about twenty-five miles from the 
Cowpens, in the evening. The remainder ar- 
rived with Lieutenant- Colonel Tarleton on the 



212 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

morning following. In this decisive battle we 
lost about seventy men, of whom twelve only 
were killed. The British infantry, with the ex- 
ception of the baggage guard, were nearly all 
killed or taken. One hundred, including ten 
officers, were killed ; twenty-three officers and 
five hundred privates were taken. The artil- 
lery, eight hundred muskets, two standards, 
thirty-five baggage wagons, and one hundred 
dragoon horses, fell into our possession. 

The victory of the Cowpens was to the 
south what that of Bennington had been to the 
north. General Morgan, whose former services 
had placed him high in public estimation, was 
now deservedly ranked among the most illus- 
trious defenders of his country. Starke fought 
an inferior, Morgan a superior, foe. The for- 
mer contended with a German corps ; the lat- 
ter with the elite of the southern army, com- 
posed of British troops. In military reputation 
the conqueror at the Cowpens must stand be- 
fore the hero of Bennington. Starke was nobly 
seconded by Colonel Warner and his continental 
regiment ; Morgan derived very great aid from 
Pickens and his militia, and was effectually 
supported by Howard and Washington. The 



GENERAL MORGAN. 213 

weight .of the battle fell on Howard; who sus- 
tained himself gloriously in trying circum- 
stances, and seized with decision the critical 
moment to complete with the bayonet the ad- 
vantage gained by his fire. 

Congress manifested their sense of this im- 
portant victory by a resolve, approving the 
conduct ofthe principal officers, and commemo- 
rative of their distinguished exertions. To Gen- 
eral Morgan they presented a golden medal, to 
Brigadier Pickens a sword, and to Lieutenant- 
Colonels Howard and Washington, a silver 
medal, and to Captain Triplett, a sword. 



GENERAL MORGAN. 

General Morgan was a plain home bred 
man. He always called his men his boys, and 
his hearty familiarity made him popular ; and 
his orders were obeyed in a moment. He 
would order a draft of men at 3 o'clock in the 
morning to go twenty-eight miles before day- 
light. Horsemen were always at hand to take 



214 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the riflemen on behind them. No inquiries by 
the men were allowed. He told his men to 
shoot at those who wore epaulettes, rather than 
the poor fellows who fought for six-pence per 
day. 



COL. WILLIAM WASHINGTON. 

While attached to the light corps command- 
ed by General Morgan, Colonel William Wash- 
ington, by a very ingenious stratagem, carried 
the post at Rugely's, taking a large body of the 
enemy, without firing a single shot. Apprized 
of the character of his opponent, Rugely, he 
fixed a pine log on the front wheels of a wagon, 
so as to make it appear, at a distance, as a field- 
piece, and threatening immediate destruction 
should resistance be attempted; the affrighted 
colonel requested that quarter might be allow- 
ed, and surrendered at discretion. On this 
occasion, Lord Cornwallis, writing to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Tarleton, laconically said— 
"Rugely will not be a brigadier." He, in a 
high degree, contributed to the achievement of 



COLO.NEL WILLIAM WASHINGTON. 215 

the brilliant victory at the Cowpens, although 
his too ardent zeal had nearly cost him his 
life; for, anxious by example, to increase the 
energy of pursuit, he was led so far in advance, 
as to be surrounded by several officers of the 
British legion ; and must have fallen, had he 
not been rescued by the gallantry of a sergeant 
and his bugleman, Ball, who, by a well-aimed 
pistol-shot, disabled the officer, whose sword 
was raised for his destruction. In the retreat 
into Virginia, and in all the manoeuvres subse- 
quent to the recrossing of the Dan, he essen- 
tially aided to baffle the skilful efforts of Lord 
Cornwallis, to force General Greene, heading 
an inferior army, to battle. At Guilford, he 
acted a most conspicuous part. By a spirited 
and most judicious charge, he broke the regi- 
ment of guards commanded by Colonel Stew- 
ard, who fell in the action, and followed by the 
gallant Colonel Howard, leading on the Mary- 
landers, with fixed bayonets, nearly annihilated 
them. Trifles have often, in the heat of battle, 
been productive of the most unlooked for con- 
sequences. Washington's cap fell, and while 
he dismounted to recover it, a round of grape, 
from the British artillery, fired by the order of 



216 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

General Webster, on friends as well as foes, 
the more effectually to check the success of the 
Americans, so grievously wounded the officer 
next in command, that, incapacitated from 
managing his horse, the animal wheeled round 
and carried him off the field, followed by the 
rest of the cavalry, who unhappily supposed 
that the movement had been directed. This 
accident saved the remnant of the Guards, and, 
in all probability, the entire British army. 1 
heard, from an officer of distinction in the army 
of the enemy, who was wounded in this action, 
the following interesting particulars: — "I was 
near General Webster, when the charge was 
made by Washington. The desperate situation 
of the Guards, had its effect on all around. An 
officer of rank, in the American army, quickly 
perceiving it, rode up to the British line, and 
called aloud, ' surrender, gentlemen, and be 
certain of good quarters.' Terrified by ap- 
pearances, and concluding that defeat was in- 
evitable, the soldiers of the regiment De Bose, 
were actually throwing down their arms. Con- 
fusion was increasing. General Webster, whose 
presence of mind could not be disturbed, ex- 
claimed — ' Unless that gallant fellow is taken 



COLONEL WILLIAM WASHINGTON. 217 

off, we are lost.' A lieutenant of artillery, 
bringing up a field-piece at the moment, was 
directed to fire into the throng, where the 
Guards now appeared to be greatly out-num- 
bered, and did so with the happiest success — 
the cavalry wheeled off, the remains of the bat- 
talion rallied, and the army was saved." At 
Fobkirk's Hill, new honours awaited him. 
Gaining the rear of the British army, by judi- 
cious manoeuvring during the action, he cap- 
tured and parolled eleven officers, and made 
prisoners of upwards of two hundred men — 
fifty of whom he brought off the field ; the re- 
treat of the American forces obliged him to re- 
linquish the remainder. But, in the evening of 
the day on which the engagement took place, 
having decoyed Coffin, who commanded the 
horse of the enemy, into an ambuscade, he 
charged him with an intrepidity that could not 
be withstood, and compelled him, after the loss 
of half of his men, to fly and take shelter in 
Camden. At the battle of Eutaw, though un- 
fortunate, no hero had ever, in a higher degree, 
merited success. His repeated charges on the 
British light infantry, would, probably, have 
disconcerted a corps less brave, or commanded 
19 



213 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

by any other officer than Majoribanks; but, 
they maintained their position with a steadiness 
that could not be subdued ; and in a last effort 
for victory, Washington's horse being killed, 
he became entangled, as he fell, in the ranks 
of the enemy, and being unable to extricate 
himself, was bayoneted and taken. The intre- 
pid conduct of his gallant followers, cannot be 
too highly extolled. Captain Watts, the second 
in command, Lieutenants Stuart, King, Gor- 
don and Simons, were wounded ; Mr. Carlisle, 
a volunteer, killed, and half of the men de- 
stroyed. After which, the residue were drawn 
off by Captain Parsons, the only officer who 
escaped without injury. The action at the 
Eutaws, was the last in which Lieutenant- 
Colonel Washington was engaged. Remain- 
ing a prisoner to the conclusion of the war, he 
married a lady, equally distinguished by her 
virtues and accomplishments, and settled in 
South Carolina. Possessing a very consider- 
able property, he indulged in unbounded hospi- 
tality, receiving, with affectionate attention, his 
military associates, and maintaining the re- 
spectable character of a liberal and independ- 
ent country gentleman. 



GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 219 



BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 

The battle of Guilford Court-House took 
place on the loth of March, 1781. The 
American army consisted of four thousand 
four hundred and ninety-one men, of whom 
two thousand seven hundred and fifty-three 
were militia of North Carolina and Virginia, 
one thousand and sixty from the first state, and 
sixteen hundred and ninety-three from the last ; 
the British of about two thousand four hundred 
men, chiefly troops grown veteran in victories. 
The American army was drawn up in three 
lines ; the front composed of North Carolina 
militia, under the command of General Butler 
and General Eaton ; the second of Virginia 
militia, commanded by General Stevens and 
General Lawson; the third and last of the 
Maryland and Virginia continentals, amount- 
ing to fourteen hundred and ninety rank and 
file, commanded by General Huger and Colo- 
nel Williams. Lieutenant-Colonel Washing- 
ton, with his cavalry, and a corps of Delaware 
light-infantry, and some riflemen under Colonel 



220 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Lynch, covered the right flank. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Lee, with his legion, and some rifle- 
men under Colonel Campbell, the left. After 
a brisk cannonade in front, the British advanced 
in three columns, the Hessians on the right, the 
Guards in the centre, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Webster's brigade on the left, and attacked the 
front line. This gave way when their adver- 
saries were at the distance of one hundred and 
forty yards. Some of the North Carolina mi- 
litia, who composed this line, fired once, but a 
great number ran away without firing or being 
fired upon. All exertions of their officers to 
rally them were ineffectual. The Virginia mi- 
litia behaved much better; kept up their fire 
till they were ordered to retreat, and did great 
execution. General Stevens had posted forty 
riflemen at equal distances, twenty paces in the 
rear of his brigade, with orders to shoot every 
man who should leave his post. This gallant 
officer, though he received a wound through the 
thigh, did not quit the field. He had the ad- 
dress to prevent his brigade from receiving any 
bad impressions from the retreating North Ca- 
rolinians, by giving out that .they had orders to 
retire after discharging their pieces. To cherish 



BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 221 

this idea he ordered the militia under his com- 
mand, to open their files to favour their passage. 
The continental troops were last engaged, and 
Huger fought with great spirit. Towards the 
close of the action, a charge was made on the 
British guards by the cavalry of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Washington and the Maryland troops, 
commanded by Colonel Gunby and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Howard, with such execution that the 
whole corps was nearly annihilated. After a 
severe conflict of an hour and a half, the disci- 
pline of veteran troops carried the point against 
numbers. General Greene abandoned the field 
to his rival, still however showing a good face; 
he retreated no farther than over the Reedy 
Fork, a distance of three miles. The Ameri- 
cans lost four six-pounders which had been in 
the possession of both armies in different stages 
of the action. This victory cost the British 
dear. Their killed and wounded exceeded six 
hundred men. The Guards lost Colonel Stuart, 
with the Captains Schutz, Maynard and Good- 
riche, besides subalterns. Colonel Webster, 
an officer of distinguished reputation, died of 
his wounds, to the great injury of the service, 
and the universal regret of the royal army. 



222 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Brigadier-Generals O'Hara and Howard, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, with several other 
officers, were wounded. 

About three hundred of the continentals and 
one hundred of the Virginia militia were killed 
and wounded ; among the former was Major 
Anderson, of the Maryland line, a valuable of- 
ficer, and the same who behaved so well in 
General Gates's defeat. Among the latter 
were General Huger and General Stevens. 
The early retreat of the North Carolinians 
saved them from much loss. Though the 
Americans had fewer killed and wounded than 
the British, yet their army sustained a greater 
diminution by the numerous fugitives from the 
militia, who no more rejoined the camp. Lord 
Cornwallis suffered so severely, that he was in 
no condition to improve the advantage he had 
gained. The British had only the name, the 
Americans all the good consequences of a vic- 
tory. General Greene retreated, and Lord 
Cornwallis kept the field; but, notwithstanding, 
the British interest, in North Carolina, was 
ruined by this action. Three days after the 
battle Lord Cornwallis issued a proclamation, 
setting forth his complete victory, and calling 



GENERAL GREENE. 223 

on all loyal subjects to stand forth, and take an 
active part in restoring good order and govern- 
ment ; and offering a pardon and protection to 
all rebels, murderers excepted, who would sur- 
render themselves on or before the twentieth 
day of April. On the day on which this pro- 
clamation was issued, his lordship left his hos- 
pital and seventy-five wounded men with the 
numerous loyalists in the vicinity of Guilford, 
and began a march towards the sea-coast, 
which had the appearance of a retreat. Thir- 
teen days before the expiration of this act of 
grace, he had reached his shipping at Wilming- 
ton, all the upper country remaining in the 
power of General Greene's army. 



GENERAL GREENE. 

"The knowledge of Greene" (said General 
Knox to a distinguished citizen of South Caro- 
lina) "is intuitive. He came to us, the rawest, 
and most untutored being I ever met with; but, 
in less than twelve months, he was equal, in 



224 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

military knowledge, to any general officer in 
the army, and very superior to most of them." 

The British officer, who opposed him in Jer- 
sey, writes — " Greene is as dangerous as Wash- 
ington ; he is vigilant, enterprising, and full of 
resources. With but little hope of gaining any 
advantage over him, I never feel secure when 
encamped in his neighbourhood." 

To speak of his disinterestedness, General 
Washington gives the following honourable tes- 
timony of his character: — "There is no officer 
in the army more sincerely attached to the in- 
terests of his country than General Greene. 
Could he but promote these interests in the 
character of a corporal, he would exchange, 
without a murmur, his epaulette for the knot. 
For, although he is not without ambition, that 
ambition has not for its object, the highest rank, 
so much as the greatest good." 

In compliment to his brilliant successes, the 
Chevalier de la Luzerne, the Minister of France, 
who, as a Knight of Malta, must be considered 
as a competent judge of military merit, thus 
speaks of him : — " Other generals subdue their 
enemy by the means with which their country 
or sovereign furnishes them ; but, Greene ap- 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 225 

pears to subdue his enemy by his own means. 
He commenced his campaign, without either 
an army, provisions, or military stores. He 
has asked for nothing since ; and yet, scarcely 
a post arrives from the south, that does not 
bring intelligence of some new advantage gain- 
ed over the foe. He conquers by magic. His- 
tory furnishes no parallel to this," 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 

The effective force of the hostile armies may 
be fairly estimated as nearly equal, each about 
two thousand three hundred. A portion of 
both armies, and that too nearly equal, had 
never as yet been in action ; so that in every 
respect the state of equality was preserved, ex- 
cepting in cavalry, where the advantage, both 
in number and quality, was on our side. 

The night passed in tranquillity ; and, judg- 
ing from appearances, no occurrence seemed 
more distant than the sanguinary battle which 
followed. 



226 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Greene advanced at four in the morning, in 
two columns, with artillery at the head of each, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lee in his front, and Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Washington in his rear. 

While moving with much circumspection, in 
the well grounded expectation that we should 
fall upon the British picquets unperceived, Cap- 
tain Armstrong, conducting the reconnoitring 
party, communicated to Lee the approach of a 
body of the enemy. This occurred about eight 
o'clock in the morning, four miles from the 
British camp. Forwarding this intelligence to 
the general, and presuming that the descried 
foe, consisting of horse and foot, must be the 
van of the enemy, Lee halted, waiting for the 
approximation of our main body. 

The legion infantry were drawn up across 
the road, the cavalry in open wood on its right, 
and Henderson with his corps in thick wood 
upon its left. Shortly the British appeared, fol- 
lowing Armstrong. The action opened, and 
the enemy were soon forced in front, while the 
horse, making a rapid movement under Major 
Eggleston, gained the rear. The infantry was 
destroyed, several killed, and about forty taken 
with their captain; the cavalry, flying in full 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 227 

speed as soon as they saw the legion dragoons 
pressing forward, saved themselves, as did the 
foraging party following in the rear, consisting 
of two or three hundred without arms. 

Pressing forward, we soon got in view of an- 
other body of the enemy, with whom the action 
recommenced. Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, advis- 
ing the general of this occurrence, requested 
the support of artillery to counteract that of the 
enemy now opening. Quickly Colonel Wil- 
liams, Adjutant-General, brought up Captain 
Gains with his two pieces in full gallop, who, 
unlimbering, took his part with decision and 
effect. 

During this rencontre both armies formed : 
The American having, as before mentioned, 
moved in two columns, each composed of the 
corps destined for its respective lines, soon 
ranged in order of battle. 

The North Carolina militia under Colonel 
Malmedy, with that of South Carolina, led by 
the Brigadiers Marion and Pickens, making the 
first, and the Continentals making the second 
line : Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell with the 
Virginians on the right ; Brigadier Sumner with 
the North Carolinians in the centre ; and the 



228 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Mary landers, conducted by Williams and. How- 
ard, on the left, resting with its left flank on 
the Charleston road. Lee with his legion was 
charged with the care of the right, as was Hen- 
derson with his corps with that of the left flank. 
The artillery, consisting only of two threes 
and two sixes, commanded by Captains Gains 
and Finn, were disposed, the first with the front 
and the last with the rear line; and Baylor's 
regiment of horse, with Kirkwood's infantry of 
Delaware, composed the reserve, led by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Washington. 

The British army was drawn up in one line, 
a few hundred paces in front of their camp 
(tents standing) with two separate bodies of in- 
fantry and the cavalry posted in its rear, ready 
to be applied as contingencies might point out. 

The Buffs (third regiment) composed its 
right, resting with its flank on the Charleston 
road; the remains of several corps, under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, the centre; and 
the sixty-third and sixty-fourth (veterans) the 
left. On the Eutaw branch, which runs to the 
British camp, right of the Charleston road, was 
posted Major Majoribanks at the head of the 
light infantry, making one battalion ; his righ 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 229 

on the branch, and his left stretching in an 
oblique line towards the flank of the BufTs. 
This branch issued from a deep ravine, be- 
tween which and the British camp was the 
Charleston road, and between the road and the 
ravine was a strong brick house. The artil- 
lery was distributed along the line, a part on 
the Charleston road, and another part on the 
road leading to Roache's plantation, which 
passed through the enemy's left wing. 

The front line of the American army, fol- 
lowing close in the rear of the two pieces under 
Captain Gains, began now to be felt by the 
van, who, diverging to the right and left, firing 
obliquely, took post on the flanks agreeably to 
the order of battle. 

The militia advancing with alacrity, the bat- 
tle became warm, convincing Lieutenant-Co- 
lonel Stuart, unexpected as it appears to have 
been, that Greene was upon him. The fire 
ran from flank to flank ; our line still advanc- 
ing, and the enemy, adhering to his position, 
manifesting a determination not to move. 

The sixty-third and the legion infantry were 
warmly engaged, when the sixty-fourth, with a 
cart of the centre, advanced upon Colonel Mal- 
20 



230 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

medy, who soon yielding, the success was push- 
ed by the enemy's left, and the militia, after a 
fierce contest, gave way ; leaving the corps of 
Henderson and the legion infantry engaged, 
sullenly falling back. 

Greene instantly ordered up the centre of 
the second line under Brigadier Sumner, to fill 
the chasm produced by the recession of the 
militia, who came handsomely into action, 
ranging with the infantry of the legion and the 
corps of Henderson, both still maintaining the 
flanks with unyielding energy. The battle be- 
ing reinstated grew hotter, and the enemy, who 
had before gained ground, fell back to his first 
position. Stuart now brought into line the 
corps of infantry posted in the rear of his left 
wing, and directed Major Coffin with his cav- 
alry to take post on his left; evincing a 
jealousy of that flank where the woods were 
open and the ground opportune for cavalry, in 
which we excelled. In this point of the action 
Lieutenant-Colonel Henderson received a ball 
which stopped his further exertion. His corps 
however, soon recovered from the effect pro 
duced by his fall ; and, led on by Lieutenant 
Colonel Hampton, continuing to act well its 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 231 

part; the American line persevered in advance, 
and the fire became mutually destructive. 
Greene, determining to strike a conclusive 
blow, brought up the Mary landers and Vir- 
ginians ; when our line became dense, and 
pressing forward, with a shout, the battle 
raged with redoubled fury. 

The enemy, sensible that the weight of our 
force was bearing upon him, returned our 
shout, and sustained himself nobly from right 
to left. Majoribanks now for the first time 
was put in motion, which being perceived, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, with the re- 
serve, was commanded to fall upon him, and 
at the same moment the line was ordered to 
hold up its fire and to charge with the bayonet. 
The air again resounded with the shouts of the 
advancing Americans; the enemy answering 
by pouring in a close and quickly repeated fire. 
As we drew near, Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, at 
the head of his infantry, discerning that we 
outstretched the enemy's line, ordered Captain 
Rudolph to fall back with his company, to gain 
the enemy's flank, and to give him a raking 
fire as soon as he turned it. This movement 
was executed with precision, and had the hap- 



232 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

piest effect. The enemy's left could not sus- 
tain the approaching shock, assailed in front as 
it was in flank, and it instantly began to give 
way, which quickly afterwards took place 
along the whole line, in some parts of which 
the hostile ranks contended with the bayonet, 
many individuals of the Mary landers and of 
the Buffs having been mutually transfixed. 

The conquering troops pressed the advantage 
they had gained, pursuing the foe, and possess- 
ed themselves of his camp, which was yielded 
without a struggle. Washington promptly ad- 
vanced to execute the orders he had received, 
and made a circuit to gain the rear of Majori- 
banks, preceded by Lieutenant Stuart with the 
leading section. As he drew near to the enemy, 
he found the ground thickly set with black jack, 
and almost impervious to horse. Deranging 
as was this unlooked for obstacle, Washing- 
ton with his dauntless cavalry forced his way, 
notwithstanding the murderous discharge of 
the enemy, safe behind his covert. Human 
courage could not surmount the obstruction 
which interposed, or this gallant officer with 
his intrepid corps would have triumphed. Cap- 
tain Watts, second in command, fell, pierced 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 233 

with two balls. Lieutenants King and Sim- 
mons experienced a similar fate; and Washing- 
ton's horse being killed, he became entangled 
in the fall, when struggling to extricate himself 
he was bayoneted and taken. Lieutenant Stu- 
art was now dismounted, being severely wound- 
ed, and his horse killed close to the hostile 
ranks ; nor did a single man of his section 
escape, some being killed and the rest wound- 
ed. The gallant young Carlisle, from Alexan 
dria, a cadet in the regiment, was killed, and 
half the corps destroyed ; after which the resi- 
due was drawn off by Captain Parsons, assist- 
ed by Lieutenant Gordon. 

This repulse took place at the time the 
British line gave way. Majoribanks, although 
victorious, fell back to cover his flying com- 
rades ; and Major Sheridan, with the New 
York volunteers, judiciously took possession of 
the brick house, before mentioned, for the same 
purpose ; while, with the same view, Major 
Coffin, with the cavalry, placed himself on the 
left, in an open field west of the Charleston 
road. 

In our pursuit we took three hundred prison- 
ers and two pieces of artillery: one taken by 
20* 



234 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Captain Rudolph, of the legion infantry, ana 
the other by Lieutenant Duval, of the Mary 
land line, who was killed — a young officer of 
the highest promise. As soon as we entered 
the field, Sheridan began to fire from the brick 
house. The left of the legion infantry, led by 
Lieutenant Manning, the nearest to the house, 
followed close upon the enemy still entering it, 
hoping to force his way before the door could be 
barred. One of our soldiers actually got half 
way in, and for some minutes a struggle of 
strength took place — Manning pressing him in, 
and Sheridan forcing him out. The last pre- 
vailed, and the door was closed. Here Cap- 
tain Barry, deputy adjutant-general, the brother 
of the celebrated Colonel S. Barry, and some 
few others, were overtaken and made prisoners. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, finding his left discom- 
fited in the bold attempt, on the success of 
which much hung, recalled it; and Manning 
so disposed of his prisoners, by mixing them 
with his own soldiers, as to return unhurt ; the 
enemy in the house sparing him rather than 
risking those with him. 

At this point of time Lieutenant-Colonel 
Howard, with a part of his regiment, passed 



BATTLE OF EUTAW. 235 

through the field towards the head of the ra- 
vine, and Captain Kirkwood appeared approach- 
ing the house on its right. Majori banks, though 
uninjured, continued stationary on the enemy's 
right, as did Coffin with the cavalry on the left. 
Sheridan, from a few swivels and his musket- 
ry, poured his fire in every direction without 
cessation. 

During this period, Stuart was actively em- 
ployed in forming his line; difficult in itself 
from the severe battle just fought, and render- 
ed more so by the consternation which evident- 
ly prevailed. The followers of the army, the 
wagons, the wounded, the timid, were all hast- 
ening towards Charleston ; some along the 
road in our view, others through the field back 
of the road, equally in view ; while the staff 
were destroying stores of every kind, especial- 
ly spirits, which the British soldiers sought 
with avidity. 

General Greene brought up all his artillery 
against the house, hoping to effect a breach, 
through which he was determined to force his 
way ; convinced that the submission of the 
enemy in the house gave to him the hostile 
army. At the same moment Lieutenant-Colo- 



236 STORIES OP THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

nel Lee (still on the right) sent for Eggleston 
and his cavalry, for the purpose of striking 
Coffin, and turning the head of the ravine; 
which point was properly selected for the con- 
centration of our force, too much scattered by 
the pursuit, and by the allurements which the 
enemy's camp presented.* Here we command- 
ed the ravine, and might readily break up the 
incipient arrangements of the rallying enemy ; 
here we were safe from the fire of the house, 
and here we possessed the Charleston road. 
While Lee was halted at the edge of the wood, 
impatiently waiting for the arrival of his horse, 
he saw Captain Armstrong (the leading officer 
for the day) approaching, and not doubting 
that the corps was following, the lieutenant- 
colonel advanced into the field, directing Arm- 
strong to follow. 

Their failure to do so impaired the glory of 
the battle by preventing the total destruction 
of the enemy, but did not prevent the victory 
of the Americans, who repelled the British and 
took 500 prisoners. Colonel Campbell was 
killed, and Colonels Washington, Howard, and 
Henderson wounded. 



BATTLE OF YORKTOWN. 237 



BATTLE OF YORKTOWN. 

The autumn of 1780 found the British in pos- 
session of most of the southern states. Charles- 
ton had fallen, South Carolina had been over- 
run, Virginia was threatened ; and the victorious 
Gates, advancing to the succour of the patriots, 
had been totally destroyed at Camden. But the 
savage policy adopted by Cornwallis to secure 
his conquest was ultimately the cause of his 
ruin. He issued a proclamation, sequestering 
the estates of all those, not included in the capi- 
tulation of Charleston, who were in the service 
or acting under the authority of Congress, and 
of all others who, by an open avowal of liberal 
principles, or other notorious acts, should show 
a leaning to the colonial authorities. He also 
gave orders to the British officers, at their several 
posts, to execute any persons who, having once 
taken a protection as British subjects, had since 
repented and assumed arms in behalf of their 
country. By these measures he hoped to crush 
all resistance, and secure the southern colonies 
to the crown, even if it should become neces- 



233 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sary to acknowledge the independence of the 
states north of the Potomac. But he over- 
reached himself. His cruelty shocked the luke- 
warm, and infuriated the hostile. The people 
saw that there was no alternative but in perfect 
freedom or hopeless slavery. At this juncture 
Marion appeared ; the militia flocked to his 
standard ; and the success of the partisan war 
carried on by him and Sumpter raised the 
drooping spirits of the whigs. The appoint- 
ment of Greene to the command of the southern 
army, and the brilliant affair at the Cowpens, 
still further exalted their hopes ; so that even 
the check at Guilford Court-House failed to dis- 
hearten them. Indeed, the result of that battle 
was almost as unfavourable to the British as to 
the Americans, In a few days Greene was 
ready to renew the contest ; but Cornwall is 
eluded his grasp, and reached Wilmington, in 
his way to Virginia, on the 7th of April, 1781. 
The American leader, finding it impossible to 
bring his enemy to battle, took the bold resolu- 
tion of marching into South Carolina, and thus 
forcing Cornwallis to follow him or abandon 
his conquests. The British general, on receiv- 
ing intelligence of this movement, hesitated, but 



BATTLE OV YORKTOWN. 239 

finally determined to pursue his first design, and 
overrun Virginia. By this daring step he would 
place his army in a country not yet wasted by 
war, and where, consequently, supplies would 
be plentiful ; while, if he should succeed in re- 
ducing the colony, the subjugation of the other 
southern states would inevitably follow, no mat- 
ter how fortunate Greene, in the mean time, 
might be. 

The movement spread consternation among 
the friends of freedom. No one can under- 
stand the almost universal fears entertained for 
the south, who has not perused the correspond- 
ence of that day. For a time success followed 
every footstep of the foe. Cornwallis, advanc- 
ing rapidly northward, had united himself to 
the British generals Philips and Arnold, as 
early as the latter end of May ; while Lafayette, 
who had been despatched to succour Greene, 
but had been arrested by the enemy on the 
James River, was preserved from capture only 
by his energy and address. At length a junc- 
tion was effected between him and Wayne, and 
subsequently a detachment led by Baron Steu- 
ben still further increased his force. Happily, 
at this crisis, Sir Henry Clinton, alarmed by 



240 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Washington's preparations for the siege of New- 
York, recalled a portion of the force of Corn- 
wallis, and that general, now somewhat weak- 
ened, retired to Yorktown. 

La Fayette had never ceased to urge on Wash- 
ington the practicability of capturing Corn- 
wallis, and thus ending the war at a blow, 
provided the northern army, by a sudden march 
from the Hudson, could be thrown into the 
scales against the enemy. But the comman- 
der-in-chief's favourite scheme was the reduc- 
tion of New York, and it was long before he 
could be brought to see its impracticability. 
When he was once convinced, however, he 
acted with his usual skill and promptness. The 
whole of the French allies and two thousand of 
the continental line were detailed for the south- 
ern expedition, which Washington determined 
to lead in person : the march of the troops was 
concealed as long as possible, while a sufficient 
force was left to defend the Hudson ; and so 
completely was Sir Henry Clinton deceived, 
that the allied forces had reached the Delaware 
before he became aware of their intention to 
move southward. 

The brave continentals traversed now, with 



BATTLE OF YORKTOWN. 241 

far different feelings, the ground over which 
they had fled a few years before, ill-provision- 
ed, poorly clothed, and marking their footsteps 
with blood. There was before them the pros- 
pect of reducing a formidable army, with but 
little expense of blood and treasure, and thus 
revenging their own wrongs and redeeming their 
country. They had already eluded Sir Henry 
Clinton, and a few days would probably enable 
them to surround Cornwallis. They marched 
on with high hopes, cheering their way with 
songs, and before the end of September arrived 
at Williamsburg, in the immediate vicinity of 
the foe. Meantime, the French fleet, in pur- 
suance of the concerted plan, had reached the 
Chesapeake, while Cornwallis, too late aware 
of the net in which he was involved, had been 
assiduously occupied in fortifying his position. 
The town of York lies on the southern shore 
of the river of that name, at a spot where the 
banks are bold and high. On the opposite side, 
at the distance of a mile, is Gloucester Point, a 
strip of land projecting far into the stream. 
Both the town and point were occupied by Corn- 
wallis, the communication being preserved by 
his batteries ; while several men-of-war lay 
21 



242 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

under his guns, for the river was here deep 
enough for the largest ship of the line. 

By referring to the map a clear idea may be 
gained of the strength of Cornwallis's position. 
It will be seen that Yorktown is situated at the 
narrowest part of the peninsula, formed by the 
York and James rivers, where the distance 
across is but eight miles. By placing his 
troops, therefore, around the village, and draw- 
ing about them a range of outer redoubts and 
field works calculated to command this penin- 
sula, Cornwallis had established himself in a 
position almost impregnable ; while, by fortify- 
ing Gloucester Point and maintaining the com- 
munication between it and Yorktown, he opened 
a door for the reception of supplies and pro- 
vided a way of escape in the last emergency. 

Having formed a junction with La Fayette, 
the allied army, commanded by Washington in 
person, moved down from Williamsburg to 
Yorktown ; and on the 30th of September oc- 
cupied the outer lines of Cornwallis, which that 
general had abandoned without a struggle. 
Two thousand men were detailed to the Glou- 
cester side to blockade that post. The invest- 
ment was now complete. 



BATTLE OF YORKTOWX. 243 

It was not, however, until the night of the 6th 
of October that the Americans broke ground, 
within six hundred yards of the enemy's lines, 
the intermediate time having been employed in 
bringing up the stores and heavy artillery. By 
daybreak the trenches were sufficiently ad- 
vanced to cover the men. In less than four 
days a sufficient number of batteries and re- 
doubts had been erected to silence the fire of 
the enemy. On the 10th, (the day on which 
the British withdre v their cannon from the em- 
brasures,) tht -ed-not balls of the allied bat- 
♦eries set fire to an English frigate and three 
large transports lying in the harbour. Corn- 
wall^ now began to despond. No succour had 
arrived from New York, and the allies were 
pushing the siege with extraordinary vigour. 
On the night cf f he 11th the second parallel 
was opened within three hundred yards of the 
British lines. These new trenches were flanked 
by two redoubts in possession of the enemy, 
who, taking advantage of the circumstance, 
opened several new embrasures, and kept up 
an incessant and destructive fire. It became 
necessary to carry these batteries by storm ; 
and the fourteenth was fixed for the purpose. 



244 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

one redoubt being assigned to the Americans 
and the other to the French. A noble emula- 
tion fired the soldiers of the respective nations 
as they advanced across the plain. La Fayette 
led the continentals : the Baron de Viominel 
commanded his countrymen. The redoubt en- 
trusted to the Americans was carried at the 
bayonet's point, the assailants rushing on with 
such impetuosity that the sappers had not time 
to remove the abattis and palisades. The 
French were equally courageous and success- 
ful, though, as their redoubt was defended by a 
larger force, the conquest was not so speedy, 
and their loss was greater. It was, at one time, 
currently believed that La Fayette, with the con- 
currence of Washington, had issued orders for 
every man to be put to the sword, in retalia- 
tion for the massacre at New London, a few 
weeks before ; but Colonel Hamilton, who took 
part in the assault and who had ample means 
of knowing the truth, has publicly denied the 
statement. The redoubts were the same night 
included in the second parallel, and their guns, 
the next day, made ready to be turned against 
the foe. 

Cornwallis was now reduced to extremities. 



BATTLE OF YOIIKTOWN. 245 

His works were crumbling under the shot of 
the first parallel, and in another day the new 
trenches would open their fire at half the dis- 
tance. In this emergency he resolved on a 
sortie, hoping thus to retard the completion of 
the batteries in the second parallel. The en- 
terprise was, at first, successful, and the two 
batteries, which were now nearly completed, 
fell into the hands of the foe ; but the guards 
from the trenches immediately hastening to the 
assistance of their fellow soldiers, the enemy 
was dislodged and driven back into his works. 
The same day the second parallel opened 
several of its batteries. It was hoped that, by 
morning, every gun might be brought to bear. 
Having failed in his sortie, and knowing that 
his position was now untenable, the British ge- 
neral took the desperate resolution of crossing 
over to Gloucester Point in the night, and cut- 
ting his way through the blockading force there, 
then mounting his men on whatever horses he 
could seize, to make a rapid march northward 
and join Sir Henry Clinton. By this move- 
ment he would abandon his sick and baggage; 
but he would save himself the disgrace of a 
surrender. Boats were secretly procured, and 
21 * 



246 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the first embarkation reached the point safely 
and unperceived; but, at this juncture, a violent 
storm arose, which drove the boats down the 
river. The tempest continued until daylight, 
when the enterprise was unavoidably given up, 
and the troops that had passed over re-crossed 
to the southern side. 

A capitulation was now the only resource. 
Accordingly, at ten the same forenoon, Corn- 
wall is beat a parley, and proposed a cessation 
of hostilities for one day, in order to agree on 
terms for the surrender of Yorktown and Glou- 
cester. Washington granted two hours for 
Cornwallis to prepare his proposals ; and, that 
no time might be lost, sent in his own. Tho 
answer of the British general rendering it pro- 
bable that but little difficulty would occur in 
adjusting the terms, Washington consented to 
the cessation of hostilities. On the 18th, tho 
commissioners from the two armies met ; but 
evening arrived before they could agree except 
on a rough draft of the terms of surrender. 
These, however, Washington caused to be 
copied, and sent them early next morning to 
Cornwallis, determined not to lose the slightest 
advantage by delay. lie further informed the 



BATTLE OF YORliTOWN. 247 

British general lhat a definiiive answer was ex- 
pected by eleven o'clock ; and that, in case of 
a surrender, the garrison must march out by 
two in the afternoon. No resource being left, 
Cornwallis signed. 

It was a proud day for the war-worn troops 
of America, when the richly appointed soldiery 
of Britain marched out with dejected faces from 
their works, and in profound silence stacked 
their arms on the plain, in presence of the con- 
querors. But no unmanly exultation was seen 
among the allies. With decent pity they gazed 
on the spectacle, reserving their congratulations 
for their private quarters. But there, the re- 
joicings were loud and fervent, and the gay 
Frenchman from the Loire joined in triumphal 
songs with the hardy son of New England, or 
the more enthusiastic Virginian. 

By the capitulation more than seven thou- 
sand prisoners, exclusive of seamen, fell into 
the hands of the allies. Among the captives 
were two generals, and thirty-one field officers. 
The army, artillery, arms, military chest, and 
public stores were surrendered to Washington; 
while the ships and seamen were assigned to 
Count de Grasse, the French admiral. In ad- 



248 STOUIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

dition to those made prisoners at the capitula- 
tion, the loss of the garrison, during the siege, 
was five hundred and fifty-two. The allied 
army lost about three hundred. The whole 
force, including the militia, under Washington's 
command, was sixteen thousand. The siege 
occupied eleven days to the opening of the 
Treaty, and thirteen fo the signing of the capitu- 
lation. 

There was a large body of Americans in 
Yorktown who had joined the British army, and 
Cornwallis endeavoured to provide for their 
safety in the capitulation. But as the subject 
belonged to the civil department, Washington 
rejected the article. The escape of these men 
was, however, humanely connived at ; for a 
sloop of war was allowed to proceed to New 
York with despatches unsearched, and in her 
they embarked. 

On the very day when the capitulation was 
signed at Yorktown, Sir Henry Clinton sailed 
from Sandy Hook with seven thousand men to 
relieve Cornwallis ; but on the 24th, when off 
the capes of Virginia, having received intelli- 
gence of the surrender, he altered his course 
for New York. 



BATTLE OF YORKTOVVN. 249 

This brilliant result was achieved chiefly by 
the energy and wisdom of Washington. A 
delay of one week would have frustrated his 
plans, relieved Cornwall is, and protracted the 
war perhaps for years. 

Before the siege began, a circumstance oc- 
curred which came near destroying the success 
of the campaign. Immediately after the ar- 
rival of Washington at Williamsburg, the Count 
de Grasse, then lying in the Chesapeake, re- 
ceived intelligence that the British fleet, having 
been reinforced, was preparing to attack him ; 
and considering his position unfavourable for a 
naval combat, he determined to put to sea for 
the purpose of meeting the enemy, leaving only 
a few frigates to continue the blockade of York- 
town. This resolution alarmed the comman- 
der-in-chief; for, if the count should be blown 
off the coast, the enemy might attain a tem- 
porary superiority on those waters, and Corn- 
wallis be either succoured or removed. La Fay- 
ette was called in at this emergency, and by 
his representations, seconded by the earnest 
remonstrances of Washington, the design was 
abandoned. Too much credit cannot be given 
to De Grasse for thus sacrificing his personal 



250 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

glory to the success of the expedition. La Fay- 
ette was the best advocate in this case, as he 
had himself, a few days before, resisted a simi- 
lar temptation to win renown ; for De Grasse, 
impatient of the delay of Washington, had 
urged his young countryman to storm the then 
unfinished works of Cornwallis, declaring that 
it was impossible for him longer to await the 
arrival of the commander-in-chief. But, with 
the true spirit of a patriot, La Fayette refused to 
sacrifice the lives of his soldiers, when the cap- 
ture of the enemy might be secured, without 
bloodshed, by the delay of a few days. 

The reduction of Yorktown filled the country 
with exultation. Addresses poured inonthecom- 
mander-in-chief from every quarter — from state 
governments, cities, corporations and learned 
bodies. Congress returned thanks to Wash- 
ington, to Rochambeau, and to De Grasse, as 
well as to the officers generally, and to the 
corps of artillery, especially to the engineers. 
They also ordered a monument to be erected 
on the scene of the surrender, commemorating 
the glorious event. Two stand of colours, of 
those yielded in the capitulation, were present- 
ed to Washington; two pieces of field ordnance 



BATTLE OF YORKTOWN. 251 

to llochambeau, and the permission of his 
monarch was solicited to bestow a similar gift on 
De Grasse. The whole body went in solemn 
procession to church, in order to return thanks 
to Almighty God for the success of the allied 
arms ; and a proclamation was issued, enjoin- 
ing the observance of the 13th of December as 
a day of thanksgiving and prayer. 

The capture of Yorktown virtually terminat- 
ed the war. Two formidable armies had now 
been sacrificed in the vain attempt to subdue 
the colonies,, and public opinion in England 
began to assert the impracticability of conquer- 
ing America. A large party there had long 
maintained this ; and the continuance of the 
war was attributed to the obstinacy of the Bri- 
tish minister ; but the manuscript letters of 
Lord North show, as early as 1778, a wish to 
acknowledge the independence of the States ; 
and it is now established satisfactorily that 
nothing but the personal will of the sovereign 
protracted the conflict during the last three 
years. But after the fall of Cornwallis, there 
was no longer any hope of success. From 
every quarter of England came up the dying 
prophecy of the Earl of Chatham. The monarch 



252 STORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

yielded to the storm ; and the United States 
were declared free and independent, by the 
same British parliament which had lately de- 
nounced them as revolted provinces. 

[Graham's Magazine. 



THE END. 



\ v Ja'33 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 782 204 7 



